•  Addresses 

and 

Presidential   Messages 

of 


Theodore  Roosevelt 

\\ 


1902-1904 

With  an  Introduction  by 

Henry   Cabot   Lodge 


G.  P.  Putnam's   Sons 

New   York  and   London 
Ube  "Knickerbocker  press 

1904 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTE 

IN  the  selection  of  the  speeches  included  in  the  present  volume  special 
attention  has  been  given  to  the  subjects  which  seem  likely  in  themselves  to 
possess  continued  importance,  and  to  those  speeches  which  should  prove  of 
special  interest  to  the  citizen  and  the  voter  during  the  present  year  (1904), 
as  expressions  of  the  methods  of  thought  and  of  the  principles  of  action  of 
the  President.  The  volume  is  published  with  the  full  approval  of  President 
Roosevelt,  and  the  selection  of  the  addresses  has  been  made  under  his 
supervision.  The  publishers  desire  to  make  clear,  however,  that  in  Mr. 
Roosevelt's  opinion  these  speeches  have  been  dedicated  to  the  public,  and 
he  has  declined,  therefore,  to  derive  any  business  advantage  from  their 
publication. 


INTRODUCTION 

By  HENRY  CABOT  LODGE 

DR.  JOHNSON  wisely  said  that  no  man  was  ever  written 
down  except  by  himself.  It  is  equally  true  that  no  man 
was  ever  written  up  except  by  himself,  and  although  ad 
vertisement  and  notoriety  are  so  often  mistaken  for  fame, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  a  solid  and  lasting  reputation  can 
only  be  made  by  what  a  man  says  and  does  himself  and 
not  by  what  others  may  say  about  him.  Despite,  there 
fore,  the  great  extension  of  the  interview  and  of  the  habit 
of  "writing  people  up"  in  the  newspapers,  whether  fav 
orably  or  unfavorably,  the  formal  political  or  campaign 
biography,  so  much  in  favor  in  former  days,  has  of  late 
largely  disappeared.  It  is  still  the  custom  in  England  to 
publish  for  political  purposes  biographies  of  living  men 
who  are  in  the  full  tide  of  public  activity,  but  in  this 
country  such  works  have  gone  very  much  out  of  fashion. 
It  used  to  be  the  inevitable  as  well  as  the  conventional 
practice  to  write  and  publish  the  lives  of  Presidential 
candidates  in  more  or  less  serious  and  elaborate  books 
when  the  time  for  their  election  approached.  These  vol 
umes  were  prepared  often  with  much  care,  and  in  at  least 
two  instances  men  of  the  highest  literary  reputation  were 
called  upon  to  perform  the  task.  Hawthorne  wrote  the 
campaign  life  of  Franklin  Pierce,  and  Howells  that  of 
President  Hayes.  But  even  their  great  reputations  could 
not  save  these  biographies  from  oblivion,  and  what  they 
failed  to  make  of  permanent  value,  in  the  hands  of  lesser 
men  were  utterly  ephemeral.  It  is  no  doubt  a  sense  of 


228634 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

this  failure,  joined  to  the  further  fact  that  all  the  inci 
dents,  both  real  and  imaginary,  in  the  career  of  a  Presi 
dential  candidate  are  now  put  within  every  one's  reach 
by  the  daily  newspapers,  that  has  caused  the  practical 
disappearance  of  these  biographies,  which  were  written  to 
enlighten  voters  and  attract  votes  to  their  subject. 

The  case,  however,  is  widely  different  when  we  come 
to  what  Dr.  Johnson  considered  the  only  real  foundation 
of  a  man's  reputation — that  which  he  has  done  or  said  or 
written  himself.  It  is  most  important  that  people  should 
be  able  to  read  and,  let  us  hope,  ponder  well  what  has 
been  written  or  said  by  any  man  to  whom  they  are  asked 
to  intrust  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  For  that 
reason  this  volume  has  far  more  significance  than  that  of 
being  merely  an  addition  to  the  collected  works  of  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt.  Here  have  been  brought  together  cer 
tain  important  speeches  and  messages  which  express  the 
President's  opinions  upon  subjects  with  which  he  has  felt 
it  his  duty  to  deal  since  he  has  been  charged  with  the 
highest  public  duties.  In  the  still  distant  future  they 
will  form  a  most  important  contribution  to  the  history 
of  the  time,  as  is  always  the  case  with  the  words  and 
thoughts  of  men  who  have  had  the  largest  share  in  their 
day  in  directing  the  course  and  fortunes  of  the  country. 
It  will  also  be  for  that  distant  future  to  decide  what  place 
these  speeches  shall  take  and  hold  in  that  very  small 
group  which  are  remembered  and  repeated  among  men, 
not  as  history,  but  as  literature.  At  the  present  mo 
ment,  however,  they  have  the  peculiar  and  most  import 
ant  interest  of  being  the  utterances  of  a  man  who  has  not 
only  filled  the  highest  place  in  the  gift  of  the  American 
people,  but  who  now  stands  before  that  people  for  their 
direct  approbation  and  for  re-election  to  office.  This  is 
neither  the  time  nor  the  place  to  analyze  or  criticise  these 
speeches  from  the  point  of  view  of  their  permanent  posi 
tion  as  examples  of  literature  or  of  oratory,  or  even  to 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

attempt  to  measure  the  historical  value  which  the  coming 
generations  will  surely  place  upon  them.  That  which 
concerns  us  at  the  moment  is  the  light  which  they  throw 
upon  the  speaker  himself,  upon  what  he  has  done,  and 
upon  what  the  man  who,  with  the  gravest  public  respon 
sibility  resting  on  him,  thinks  and  speaks  in  this  way, 
may  be  counted  upon  to  do  in  the  future. 

President  Roosevelt's  speeches,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
have  the  quality  sure  to  be  imparted  to  the  spoken  word 
by  a  man  of  the  highest  education,  who  has  read  widely 
and  thought  deeply,  and  who  has  had  the  invaluable 
mental  training  which  comes  from  many  years  of  histori 
cal  study.  All  the  attributes  which  these  habits  of 
thought  and  education  imply  may  be  found  here,  but 
these  speeches  have  one  quality  which  is  more  important 
at  this  moment  certainly  than  any  other,  although  its 
value  and  meaning  also  to  those  who  come  after  us  can 
hardly  be  overrated.  That  which  marks  President  Roose 
velt's  speeches  beyond  anything  else  is  their  entire  sin 
cerity.  What  he  says  is  pre-eminently  genuine,  for  all  his 
utterances  not  only  come  straight  from  the  heart,  but  are 
set  forth  with  an  energy  and  force  of  conviction  which 
are  as  apparent  as  they  are  characteristic.  He  has  no 
secrets.  The  truth  that  is  in  him  rises  unchecked  to  his 
lips.  President  Roosevelt  would  never  have  succeeded 
in  a  diplomacy  which  deserved  the  ancient  witticism  of 
Sir  Henry  Wotton  when  he  described  an  ambassador  as 
"an  honest  man  sent  to  lie  abroad  for  the  common 
wealth," — still  less  can  he  use  language  for  the  purpose 
of  concealing  thought.  If  he  speaks  at  all  he  must  per 
force  say  what  he  thinks,  and  thus  it  comes  to  pass  that 
men  may  know  him  as  he  is,  a  knowledge  very  important 
just  now  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  In  daily 
life,  there  is  nothing  so  unpleasant  as  pretence,  nothing 
which  is  so  restful  as  reality.  If  we  know  that  a  man  or 
woman  is  real  and  not  a  sham  we  can  bear  easily  with  many 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

a  defect  or  shortcoming.  Even  an  unpleasant  truth  is,  in 
the  long  run,  a  better  companion  than  a  genial  falsehood, 
and  the  greatest  failures  among  men  are  those  who  dwell 
among  illusions,  the  greatest  victors  those  who  have 
looked  facts,  whether  they  smiled  or  frowned,  steadily  in 
the  face.  If,  then,  sham  and  pretence  are  so  much  to  be 
shunned  in  the  intercourse  of  private  life,  how  infinitely 
more  important  is  it  to  know  as  they  really  are,  the  men 
to  whom  the  fate  of  the  country  is  to  be  intrusted.  But 
we  cannot  hope  to  know  such  men  from  the  narratives  or 
the  criticisms  of  others.  The  only  sure  authority  is  the 
man  himself  if  he  be  at  once  honest  and  fearless.  The 
biographer  may  flatter,  the  political  friend  may  paint 
the  portrait  all  in  rose,  and  the  political  enemy  may  draw 
it  in  unrelieved  shadow  with  the  blackest  charcoal,  but 
there  can  be  no  mistake  about  what  the  man  himself  has 
said.  In  this  case  we  may  read  the  speeches  here  printed 
with  the  profound  assurance  that  whether  we  agree  with 
the  opinions  expressed  or  not,  the  man  who  uttered  them 
meant  exactly  what  he  said  because  he  is  both  honest  and 
fearless.  In  the  clear  note  which  carries  the  conviction 
of  absolute  truth,  in  the  accent  of  profound  sincerity  lies 
one  of  the  great  attributes  of  the  highest  eloquence,  but 
far  more  important  here  than  any  quality  of  oratory  is 
the  fact  that  the  words  and  the  thoughts  they  embody 
enable  those  who  read  to  understand  the  man  who  speaks 
them. 

These  speeches  and  letters  and  messages  deal  for  the 
most  part  with  great  public  questions  of  varying  de 
grees  of  interest  and  importance,  which  in  their  solution 
are  making  up  the  history  of  the  United  States  at  the 
present  moment,  fbut  in  them  all  is  heard  not  only  the 
unmistakable  note  of  truth  and  courage,  but  also  the  earn 
est  tone  of  exhortation  which  we  associate  with  the 
preacher  calling  men  upward  to  higher  things.)  If  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt  were  descended  from  the  men  who  fol- 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

lowed  Cromwell  in  battle  or  sailed  with  Winthrop  across 
the  stormy  Atlantic,  we  should  say  he  derived  this  atti 
tude  toward  life  from  a  Puritan  ancestry.  Without  being 
fanciful,  we  may  fairly  think  that  it  comes  down  to  him 
from  those  ancestors  of  his  own  who  died  for  the  freedom 
of  their  country  and  for  their  religious  faith  among  the 
dykes  of  Holland,  or  who  gave  their  lives  in  support  of 
the  Covenant  among  the  rugged  hills  of  Scotland.  But 
wherever  this  temperament  may  originate, ^there  is  no 
doubt  that  through  all  the  President's  speeches  there  runs 
the  appeal  of  the  great  Apostle  when  he  called  upon  men 
to  awake  to  righteousness  and  sin  not. )  It  is  always  hard 
to  catch  the  sound  of  the  voice  in  the  printed  sentences 
or  to  see  the  manner  which  accompanied  them,  but  those 
who  have  heard  the  President  speak  know  that  the  earn 
estness  of  the  words  is  repeated  both  in  manner  and  in 
voice.  He  speaks  always  with  an  eagerness  to  convince 
the  reason  and  arouse  the  better  judgment  as  well  as  the 
best  aspirations  of  his  hearers,  which  can  hardly  be  sur 
passed,  and  this  eagerness  and  energy  of  appeal  shine  out 
in  all  the  pages  of  this  volume.  For  these  reasons,  the 
speeches  here  collected  have  a  most  peculiar  value  at  this 
precise  moment.  The  American  people  are  to  be  asked 
to  give  again  to  Mr.  Roosevelt  the  greatest  trust  and  the 
highest  responsibility  which  any  people  can  give  to  any 
man.  In  these  speeches  they  are  able  to  see  precisely 
what  manner  of  man  he  is.  They  can  have  the  assurance 
that  he  says  always  what  he  means  and  means  always 
what  he  says.  They  can  judge  him  .better  from  these 
words  which  he  himself  has  uttered  than  from  countless 
biographies  or  acres  of  newspaper  sketches.  Here  in 
these  pages  is  the  real  man.  We  may  agree  or  disagree 
with  his  views,  but  we  have  that  satisfaction  which  passes 
all  others  of  knowing  that  it  is  the  man  himself  who  speaks 
to  us  and  not  a  hollow  voice  sounding  like  that  of  a  Greek 
actor  from  behind  a  mask.  We  may  think  his  views  of 


x  INTRODUCTION 

public  policies  are  wise  or  unwise,  but  no  one  can  read 
these  speeches  and  not  realize, that  the  man  who  made 
them  is  not  only  intensely  patriotic  but  that  he  is  also 
trying  to  make  the  world  better,  is  seeking  the  triumph 
of  good  over  evil,  and  so  far  as  he  can  do  it  is  striving 
to  have  righteousness  prevail  on  the  earth.) 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION.     BY  HENRY  CABOT  LODGE  v 

ADDRESSES 

I. — CHARLESTON  EXPOSITION,  APRIL  9,  1902         .         3 
II. — AT  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  AUGUST  23,  1902        .       n 

III. — AT   SYMPHONY   HALL,   BOSTON,   AUGUST  25, 

1902      ........       19 

IV. — AT  HAVERHILL,  MASS.,  AUGUST  26,  1902        .       28 

V. — AT  BANGOR,  MAINE,  AUGUST  27,  1902  .         .       32 

VI. — AT  FITCHBURG,  MASS.,  SEPTEMBER  2,  1902    .       38 

VII. — AT  WHEELING,  WEST  VIRGINIA,   SEPTEMBER 

6,  1902          .......       44 

VIII. — To  THE  BROTHERHOOD  OF  LOCOMOTIVE  FIRE 
MEN,  CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.,  SEPTEMBER  8, 
1902  ........  52 

IX. — AT  Music  HALL,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO,  ON  THE 

EVENING  OF  SEPTEMBER  20,  1902.         .         .       61 

X. — AT    LOGANSPORT,    INDIANA,    SEPTEMBER   23, 

1902      .  .  74 

XL — AT  THE  BANQUET  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COM- 

,  MERGE    OF    THE    STATE     OF     NEW    YORK,     AT 

NEW  YORK,  NOVEMBER  n,  1902  ...       82 

XII. — AT  THE  DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  OF  THE  NEW 
HIGH-SCHOOL  BUILDING, PHILADELPHIA,  PA., 
NOVEMBER  22,  1902  .....  88 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XIII.  —  AT  THE    FOUNDERS'  DAY  BANQUET  OF  THE 

UNION  LEAGUE,  PHILADELPHIA,  NOVEMBER 

22,  1902        .......    /  92 

XIV.  —  AT  THE  BANQUET  AT  CANTON,  OHIO,  JAN 

UARY  27,  1903,  IN  HONOR  OF  THE  BIRTHDAY 

OF  THE  LATE  PRESIDENT  McKiNLEY    .         .     100 

XV.—  AT  CARNEGIE  HALL,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y., 
FEBRUARY  26,  1903,  UPON  THE  OCCASION  OF 
THE  BICENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  OF  THE 
BIRTH  OF  JOHN  WESLEY  .  .  .  .  109 

"~  XVI.—  AT  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS,  APRIL  2,  1903  .         .115 

XVII.  —  AT  WAUKESHA,  WISCONSIN,  APRIL  3,  1903    .     124 

XVIII.  —  AT  MILWAUKEE,  WISCONSIN,  APRIL  3,  1903   .     128 

XIX.  —  AT    MINNEAPOLIS,    MINNESOTA,    APRIL    4, 

1903    ........     140 

XX.  —  AT    Sioux    FALLS,  SOUTH  DAKOTA,  APRIL 

6,  1903  .     147 

XXI.  —  AT     FARGO,     NORTH    DAKOTA,    APRIL    7, 


XXII.  —  AT  OMAHA,  NEBRASKA,  APRIL  27,  1903        .     162 

XXIII.  —  AT    ODEON   HALL,    ST.    Louis,    MISSOURI, 

BEFORE  THE  NATIONAL  AND  INTERNATIONAL 
GOOD  ROADS  CONVENTION,  APRIL  29,  1903  .     167 

XXIV.  —  AT    ST.     Louis    UNIVERSITY,     ST.    Louis, 

MISSOURI,  APRIL  29,  1903     .         .         .        .171 
XXV.  —  AT  THE   DEDICATION  CEREMONIES  OF  THE 
LOUISIANA      PURCHASE      EXPOSITION,     ST. 
Louis,  MISSOURI,  APRIL  30,  1903          .        .     172 

XXVI.  —  AT  TOPEKA,  KANSAS,  MAY  i,  1903       .         .     181 

XXVII.  —  AT    LELAND    STANFORD,  JUNIOR,  UNIVER 

SITY,  PALO  ALTO,  CALIFORNIA,  MAY  12,  1903     188 

XXVIII.  —  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BER 

KELEY,  CALIFORNIA,  MAY  14,1903.       .         .     199 


CONTENTS  xiii 


PAGE 


XXIX. — AT  CARSON  CITY,  NEVADA,  MAY  19,   1903     206 
XXX. — AT  SPOKANE,  WASHINGTON,  MAY  26,  1903     210 

XXXI. — AT    COLUMBIA    GARDENS,    BUTTE,    MON 
TANA,  MAY  27,  1903     .....     213 

XXXII. — AT   THE   TABERNACLE,  SALT  LAKE  CITY, 

UTAH,  MAY  29,  1903    .....     217 

XXXIII. — AT  THE  LINCOLN  MONUMENT,  SPRING 
FIELD,  ILLINOIS,  JUNE  4,  190-  .  .  .224 

XXXIV. — AT  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  GRACE  MEMO 
RIAL  REFORMED  CHURCH,  WASHINGTON, 
D.  C.,  JUNE  7,  1903 225 

XXXV. — To  THE  HOLY  NAME  SOCIETY,  AT  OYSTER 

BAY,  N.  Y.,  AUGUST  16,  1903       .  .     228 

*\ 

XXXVI.— AT   THE   STATE   FAIR,   SYRACUSE,  N.  Y., 

SEPTEMBER  7,  1903       .....     232 

XXXVII. — AT  ANTIETAM,  SEPTEMBER  17,  1903  .         .     245 

XXXVIII. — AT    THE    UNVEILING    OF    THE    SHERMAN 

STATUE,  WASHINGTON,  OCTOBER  15,   1903.     250 

XXXIX. — AT  THE  PAN-AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  SER 
VICE,  CATHEDRAL  OF  SAINT  PETER  AND 
SAINT  PAUL,  MOUNT  SAINT  ALBAN,  WASH 
INGTON,  D.  C.,  OCTOBER  25,  1903  .  .  256 

LETTERS 263 

PRESIDENTIAL  MESSAGES 283 

INDEX 465 


ADDRESSES 


CHARLESTON  EXPOSITION,  APRIL  9,   1902 

Mr.  President;  Mr.  Mayor;  and  you  the  men  and  women 
of  the  Palmetto  State,  men  and  women  of  the  South; 
my  fellow-citizens  of  the  Union  : 

It  is  indeed  to  me  a  peculiar  pleasure  to  have  the  chance 
of  coming  here  to  this  Exposition  held  in  your  old,  your 
beautiful,  your  historic  city.  My  mother's  people  were 
from  Georgia;  but  before  they  came  to  Georgia,  before 
the  Revolution,  in  the  days  of  Colonial  rule,  they  dwelt 
for  nearly  a  century  in  South  Carolina;  and  therefore  I 
can  claim  your  State  as  mine  by  inheritance  no  less  than 
by  the  stronger  and  nobler  right  which  makes  each 
foot  of  American  soil  in  a  sense  the  property  of  all 
Americans. 

Charleston  is  not  only  a  typical  Southern  city;  it  is 
also  a  city  whose  history  teems  with  events  which  link 
themselves  to  American  history  as  a  whole.  In  the  early 
Colonial  days  Charleston  was  the  outpost  of  our  people 
against  the  Spaniard  in  the  South.  In  the  days  of  the 
Revolution  there  occurred  here  some  of  the  events  which 
vitally  affected  the  outcome  of  the  struggle  for  Indepen 
dence,  and  which  impressed  themselves  most  deeply  upon 
the  popular  mind.  It  was  here  that  the  tremendous, 
terrible  drama  of  the  Civil  War  opened. 

With  delicate  and  thoughtful  courtesy  you  originally 
asked  me  to  come  to  this  Exposition  on  the  birthday  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  The  invitation  not  only  showed  a 

3 


4  ADDRESSES 

fine  generosity  and  manliness  in  you,  my  hosts,  but  it 
also  emphasized  as  hardly  anything  else  could  have  em 
phasized  how  completely  we  are  now  a  united  people. 
The  wounds  left  by  the  great  Civil  War,  incomparably 
the  greatest  war  of  modern  times,  have  healed ;  and  its 
memories  are  now  priceless  heritages  of  honor  alike  to  the 
North  and  to  the  South.  The  devotion,  the  self-sacrifice, 
the  steadfast  resolution  and  lofty  daring,  the  high  devo 
tion  to  the  right  as  each  man  saw  it,  whether  Northerner 
or  Southerner — all  these  qualities  of  the  men  and  women 
of  the  early  sixties  now  shine  luminous  and  brilliant  be 
fore  our  eyes,  while  the  mists  of  anger  and  hatred  that 
once  dimmed  them  have  passed  away  forever. 

All  of  us,  North  and  South,  can  glory  alike  in  the  valor 
of  the  men  who  wore  the  blue  and  of  the  men  who  wore 
the  gray.  Those  were  iron  times,  and  only  iron  men 
could  fight  to  its  terrible  finish  the  giant  struggle  between 
the  hosts  of  Grant  and  Lee,  the  struggle  that  came  to  an 
end  thirty-seven  years  ago  this  very  day.  To  us  of  the 
present  day,  and  to  our  children  and  children's  children, 
the  valiant  deeds,  the  high  endeavor,  and  abnegation  of 
self  shown  in  that  struggle  by  those  who  took  part 
therein  will  remain  for  evermore  to  mark  the  level  to 
which  we  in  our  turn  must  rise  whenever  the  hour  of  the 
Nation's  need  may  come. 

When  four  years  ago  this  Nation  was  compelled  to  face 
a  foreign  foe,  the  completeness  of  the  reunion  became 
instantly  and  strikingly  evident.  The  war  was  not  one 
which  called  for  the  exercise  of  more  than  an  insignificant 
fraction  of  our  strength,  and  the  strain  put  upon  us  was 
slight  indeed  compared  with  the  results.  But  it  was  a 
satisfactory  thing  to  see  the  way  in  which  the  sons  of  the 
soldier  of  the  Union  and  the  soldier  of  the  Confederacy 
leaped  eagerly  forward,  emulous  to  show  in  brotherly 
rivalry  the  qualities  which  had  won  renown  for  their 
fathers,  the  men  of  the  great  war.  It  was  my  good  for- 


CHARLESTON  EXPOSITION  5 

tune  to  serve  under  an  ex-Confederate  general,  gallant 
old  Joe  Wheeler,  who  commanded  the  cavalry  division 
at  Santiago. 

In  my  regiment  there  were  certainly  as  many  men 
whose  fathers  had  served  in  the  Southern,  as  there  were 
men  whose  fathers  had  served  in  the  Northern,  army. 
Among  the  captains  there  was  opportunity  to  promote 
but  one  to  field  rank.  The  man  who  was  singled  out  for 
this  promotion  because  of  conspicuous  gallantry  in  the 
field  was  the  son  of  a  Confederate  general  and  was  himself 
a  citizen  of  this,  the  Palmetto  State;  and  no  American 
officer  could  wish  to  march  to  battle  beside  a  more  loyal, 
gallant,  and  absolutely  fearless  comrade  than  my  former 
captain  and  major,  your  fellow-citizen,  Micah  Jenkins. 

A  few  months  ago,  owing  to  the  enforced  absence  of 
the  Governor  of  the  Philippines,  it  became  necessary  to 
nominate  a  Vice-Governor  to  take  his  place — one  of  the 
most  important  places  in  our  Government  at  this  time. 
I  nominated  as  Vice-Governor  an  ex-Confederate,  General 
Luke  Wright,  of  Tennessee.  It  is  therefore  an  ex-Con 
federate  who  now  stands  as  the  exponent  of  this  Govern 
ment  and  this  people  in  that  great  group  of  islands  in  the 
eastern  seas  over  which  the  American  flag  floats.  General 
Wright  has  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  work  of  steadily 
bringing  order  and  peace  out  of  the  bloody  chaos  in  which 
we  found  the  islands.  He  is  now  taking  a  leading  part 
not  merely  in  upholding  the  honor  of  the  flag  by  making 
it  respected  as  the  symbol  of  our  power,  but  still  more  in 
upholding  its  honor  by  unwearied  labor  for  the  establish 
ment  of  ordered  liberty — of  law-creating,  law-abiding  civil 
government — under  its  folds. 

The  progress  which  has  been  made  under  General 
Wright  and  those  like  him  has  been  indeed  marvellous. 
In  fact,  a  letter  of  the  General's  the  other  day  seemed  to 
show  that  he  considered  there  was  far  more  warfare  about 
the  Philippines  in  this  country  than  there  was  warfare  in 


6  ADDRESSES 

the  Philippines  themselves !  It  is  an  added  proof  of  the 
completeness  of  the  reunion  of  our  country  that  one  of 
the  foremost  men  who  have  been  instrumental  in  driving 
forward  the  great  work  for  civilization  and  humanity  in 
the  Philippines  has  been  a  man  who  in  the  Civil  War 
fought  with  distinction  in  a  uniform  of  Confederate 
gray. 

If  ever  the  need  comes  in  the  future,  the  past  Jias 
made  abundantly  evident  the  fact  that  from  this  time  on 
Northerner  and  Southerner  will  in  war  know  only  the 
generous  desire  to  strive  how  each  can  do  the  more  effec 
tive  service  for  the  flag  of  our  common  country.  The 
same  thing  is  true  in  the  endless  work  of  peace,  the  never- 
ending  work  of  building  and  keeping  the  marvellous  fabric 
of  our  industrial  prosperity.  The  upbuilding  of  any  part 
of  our  country  is  a  benefit  to  the  whole,  and  every  such 
effort  as  this  to  stimulate  the  resources  and  industry  of  a 
particular  section  is  entitled  to  the  heartiest  support  from 
every  quarter  of  the  Union.  Thoroughly  good  national 
work  can  be  done  only  if  each  of  us  works  hard  for  him 
self,  and  at  the  same  time  keeps  constantly  in  mind  that 
he  must  work  in  conjunction  with  others. 

You  have  made  a  particular  effort  in  your  Exhibition 
to  get  into  touch  with  the  West  Indies.  This  is  wise. 
The  events  of  the  last  four  years  have  shown  us  that  the 
West  Indies  and  the  Isthmus  must  in  the  future  occupy 
a  far  larger  place  in  our  national  policy  than  in  the  past. 
This  is  proved  by  the  negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  the 
Danish  islands,  the  acquisition  of  Porto  Rico,  the  prep 
aration  for  building  an  Isthmian  canal,  and,  finally,  by 
the  changed  relations  which  these  years  have  produced 
between  us  and  Cuba.  As  a  Nation  we  have  an  especial 
right  to  take  honest  pride  in  what  we  have  done  for  Cuba. 
Our  critics  abroad  and  at  home  have  insisted  that  we  never 
intended  to  leave  the  island.  But  on  the  2Oth  of  next 
month  Cuba  becomes  a  free  republic,  and  we  turn  over 


CHARLESTON  EXPOSITION  7 

to  the  islanders  the  control  of  their  own  government.  It 
would  be  very  difficult  to  find  a  parallel  in  the  conduct  of 
any  other  great  state  that  has  occupied  such  a  position  as 
ours.  We  have  kept  our  word  and  done  our  duty,  just 
as  an  honest  individual  in  private  life  keeps  his  word  and 
does  his  duty. 

Be  it  remembered,  moreover,  that  after  our  four  years' 
occupation  of  the  island  we  turn  it  over  to  the  Cubans  in 
a  better  condition  that  it  ever  has  been  in  all  the  centuries 
of  Spanish  rule.  This  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  our  own 
welfare.  Cuba  is  so  near  to  us  that  we  can  never  be  in 
different  to  misgovernment  and  disaster  within  its  limits. 
The  mere  fact  that  our  administration  in  the  island  has 
minimized  the  danger  from  the  dreadful  scourge  of  yellow 
fever,  alike  to  Cuba  and  to  ourselves,  is  sufficient  to  em 
phasize  the  community  of  interest  between  us.  But  there 
are  other  interests  which  bind  us  together.  Cuba's  posi 
tion  makes  it  necessary  that  her  political  relations  with 
us  should  differ  from  her  political  relations  with  other 
powers.  This  fact  has  been  formulated  by  us  and  ac 
cepted  by  the  Cubans  in  the  Platt  amendments.  It  fol 
lows  as  a  corollary  that,  where  the  Cubans  have  thus 
assumed  a  position  of  peculiar  relationship  to  our  political 
system,  they  must  similarly  stand  in  a  peculiar  relationship 
to  our  economic  system. 

We  have  rightfully  insisted  upon  Cuba  adopting  toward 
us  an  attitude  differing  politically  from  that  she  adopts 
toward  any  other  power;  and  in  return,  as  a  matter  of 
right,  we  must  give  to  Cuba  a  different — that  is,  a  better 
—position  economically  in  her  relations  with  us  than 
we  give  to  other  powers.  This  is  the  course  dictated 
by  sound  policy,  by  a  wise  and  far-sighted  view  of  our 
own  interest,  and  by  the  position  we  have  taken  during 
the  past  four  years.  We  are  a  wealthy  and  powerful 
country,  dealing  with  a  much  weaker  one ;  and  the  con 
trast  in  wealth  and  strength  makes  it  all  the  more  our 


8  ADDRESSES 

duty  to  deal  with  Cuba,  as  we  have  already  dealt  with 
her,  in  a  spirit  of  large  generosity. 

This  Exposition  is  rendered  possible  because  of  the 
period  of  industrial  prosperity  through  which  we  are  pass 
ing.  While  material  well-being  is  never  all-sufficient  to 
the  life  of  a  nation,  yet  it  is  the  merest  truism  to  say 
that  its  absence  means  ruin.  We  need  to  build  a  higher 
life  upon  it  as  a  foundation ;  but  we  can  build  little  in 
deed  unless  this  foundation  of  prosperity  is  deep  and 
broad.  The  well-being  which  we  are  now  enjoying  can 
be  secured  only  through  general  business  prosperity,  and 
such  prosperity  is  conditioned  upon  the  energy  and  hard 
work,  the  sanity  and  the  mutual  respect,  of  all  classes  of 
capitalists,  large  and  small,  of  wage  workers  of  every  de 
gree.  As  is  inevitable  in  a  time  of  business  prosperity, 
some  men  succeed  more  than  others,  and  it  is  unfortu 
nately  also  inevitable  that  when  this  is  the  case  some 
unwise  people  are  sure  to  try  to  appeal  to  the  envy  and 
jealousy  of  those  who  succeed  least.  It  is  a  good  thing 
when  these  appeals  are  made  to  remember  that,  while  it 
is  difficult  to  increase  prosperity  by  law,  it  is  easy  enough 
to  ruin  it,  and  that  there  is  small  satisfaction  to  the  less 
prosperous  if  they  succeed  in  overthrowing  both  the  more 
prosperous  and  themselves  in  the  crash  of  a  common 
disaster. 

Every  industrial  exposition  of  this  type  necessarily  calls 
up  the  thought  of  the  complex  social  and  economic  ques 
tions  which  are  involved  in  our  present  industrial  system. 
Our  astounding  material  prosperity,  the  sweep  and  rush 
rather  than  the  mere  march  of  our  progressive  material 
development,  have  brought  grave  troubles  in  their  train. 
We  cannot  afford  to  blink  these  troubles,  any  more  than 
because  of  them  we  can  afford  to  accept  as  true  the 
gloomy  forebodings  of  the  prophets  of  evil.  There  are 
great  problems  before  us.  They  are  not  insoluble,  but 
they  can  be  solved  only  if  we  approach  them  in  a  spirit 


CHA  RLES  TON  EXPO  SI  TION  9 

of  resolute  fearlessness,  of  common  sense,  and  of  honest 
intention  to  do  fair  and  equal  justice  to  all  men  alike. 
We  are  certain  to  fail  if  we  adopt  the  policy  of  the 
demagogue  who  raves  against  the  wealth  which  is  sim 
ply  the  form  of  embodied  thrift,  foresight,  and  intel 
ligence  ;  who  would  shut  the  door  of  opportunity  against 
those  whose  energy  we  should  especially  foster,  by  penal 
izing  the  qualities  which  tell  for  success.  Just  as  little 
can  we  afford  to  follow  those  who  fear  to  recognize 
injustice  and  to  endeavor  to  cut  it  out  because  the  task 
is  difficult  or  even — if  performed  by  unskilful  hands — 
dangerous. 

This  is  an  era  of  great  combinations  both  of  labor 
and  of  capital.  In  many  ways  these  combinations  have 
worked  for  good  ;  but  they  must  work  under  the  law,  and 
the  laws  concerning  them  must  be  just  and  wise,  or  they 
will  inevitably  do  evil;  and  this  applies  as  much  to  the 
richest  corporation  as  to  the  most  powerful  labor  union. 
Our  laws  must  be  wise,  sane,  healthy,  conceived  in  the 
spirit  of  those  who  scorn  the  mere  agitator,  the  mere 
inciter  of  class  or  sectional  hatred;  who  wish  justice  for 
all  men;  who  recognize  the  need  of  adhering  so  far  as 
possible  to  the  old  American  doctrine  of  giving  the  widest 
possible  scope  for  the  free  exercise  of  individual  initiative, 
and  yet  who  recognize  also  that  after  combinations  have 
reached  a  certain  stage  it  is  indispensable  to  the  general 
welfare  that  the  Nation  should  exercise  over  them,  cau 
tiously  and  with  self-restraint,  but  firmly,  the  power  of 
supervision  and  regulation. 

Above  all,  the  administration  of  the  Government,  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws,  must  be  fair  and  honest.  The 
laws  are  not  to  be  administered  either  in  the  interest  of 
the  poor  man  or  the  interest  of  the  rich  man.  They  are 
simply  to  be  administered  justly  ;  in  the  interest  of  justice 
to  each  man  be  he  rich  or  be  he  poor — giving  immunity 
to  no  violator,  whatever  form  the  violation  may  assume. 


io  ADDRESSES 

Such  is  the  obligation  which  every  public  servant  takes, 
and  to  it  he  must  be  true  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  the 
respect  both  of  himself  and  of  his  fellows. 

And  now,  my  fellow-countrymen,  in  closing,  I  am 
going  to  paraphrase  something  said  by  Governor  Aycock 
last  night.  I  have  dwelt  to-day  upon  the  fact  that  we 
are  indeed  a  reunited  people ;  that  we  are  indeed  and  for 
ever  one  people.  The  time  was  when  one  could  not  have 
made  that  statement  with  truth ;  now  it  can  be  truthfully 
said.  There  was  a  time  when  it  was  necessary  to  keep 
saying  it,  because  it  was  already  true,  and  because  the 
assertion  made  it  more  true ;  but  the  time  is  at  hand,  I 
think  the  time  has  come,  when  it  is  not  necessary  to  say 
it  again.  Proud  of  the  South!  Of  course  we  are  proud 
of  the  South ;  not  only  Southerners  but  Northerners  are 
proud  of  the  South.  Proud  of  your  great  deeds"!  Of 
course  I  am  proud  of  your  great  deeds,  for  you  are  my 
people.  I  thank  you  from  my  heart  for  the  welcome  you 
have  given  me,  and  I  assure  you  that  few  experiences  in 
my  life  have  been  more  pleasant  than  the  experiences  of 
these  two  days  that  I  have  spent  among  you. 


II 

AT  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  AUGUST  23,   1902 

Mr.  Governor;  and  you,  my  fellow -citizens  : 

We  are  passing  through  a  period  of  great  commercial 
prosperity,  and  such  a  period  is  as  sure  as  adversity  itself 
to  bring  mutterings  of  discontent.  At  a  time  when  most 
men  prosper  somewhat  some  men  always  prosper  greatly ; 
and  it  is  as  true  now  as  when  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell 
upon  all  alike,  that  good  fortune  does  not  come  solely 
to  the  just,  nor  bad  fortune  solely  to  the  unjust.  When_ 
the  weather  is  good  for  crops  it  fc  good  for  weeds. 
Moreover,  not  only  do  the  wicked  flourish  when  the 
times  are  such  that  most  men  flourish,  but,  what  is 
worse,  the  spirit  of  envy  and  jealousy  springs  up  in  the 
breasts  of  those  who,  though  they  may  be  doing  fairly 
well  themselves,  see  others  no  more  deserving,  who  do 
better. 

Wise  laws  and  fearless  and  upright  administration  of  the 
laws  can  give  the  opportunity  for  such  prosperity  as  we 
see  about  us.  But  that  is  all  that  they  can  do.  When 
the  conditions  have  been  created  which  make  prosperity 
possible,  then  each  individual  man  must  achieve  it  for 
himself,  by  his  own  energy  and  thrift  and  business  intel 
ligence.  If  when  people  wax  fat  they  kick,  as  they  have 
kicked  since  the  days  of  Jeshurun,  they  will  speedily 
destroy  their  own  prosperity.  If  they  go  into  wild 
speculation  and  lose  their  heads,  they  have  lost  that  which 
no  laws  can  supply.  If  in  a  spirit  of  sullen  envy  they 

ii 


12  ADDRESSES 

insist  upon  pulling  down  those  who  have  profited  most 
in  the  years  of  fatness,  they  will  bury  themselves  in  the 
crash  of  the  common  disaster.  It  is  difficult  to  make 
our  material  condition  better  by  the  best  laws,  but  it  is 
easy  enough  to  ruin  it  by  bad  laws. 

The  upshot  of  all  this  is  that  it  is  peculiarly  incumbent 
upon  us  in  a  time  of  such  material  well-being,  both  col 
lectively  as  a  nation  and  individually  as  citizens,  to  show, 
each  on  his  own  account,  that  we  possess  the  qualities  of 
prudence,  self-knowledge,  and  self-restraint.  In  our  Gov 
ernment  we  need  above  all  things  stability,  fixity  of 
economic  policy,  while  remembering  that  this  fixity  must 
not  be  fossilization,  that  there  must  not  be  inability  to 
shift  our  laws  so  as  to  meet  our  shifting  national  needs. 
There  are  real  and  great  evils  in  our  social  and  economic 
life,  and  these  evils  stand  out  in  all  their  ugly  baldness  in 
time  of  prosperity ;  for  the  wicked  who  prosper  are  never 
a  pleasant  sight.  There  is  every  need  of  striving  in  all 
possible  ways,  individually  and  collectively,  by  combina 
tions  among  ourselves  and  through  the  recognized  govern 
mental  agencies,  to  cut  out  those  evils.  All  I  ask  is  to 
be  sure  that  we  do  not  use  the  knife  with  an  ignorant  zeal 
which  would  make  it  more  dangerous  to  the  patient  than 
to  the  disease. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  tremendous  industrial  de 
velopment  of  the  last  generation  has  been  the  very  great 
increase  in  private,  and  especially  in  corporate,  fortunes. 
We  may  like  this  or  not,  just  as  we  choose,  but  it  is  a 
fact  nevertheless ;  and  as  far  as  we  can  see  it  is  an  inevita 
ble  result  of  the  working  of  the  various  causes,  prominent 
among  them  steam  and  electricity.  Urban  population 
has  grown  in  this  country,  as  in  all  civilized  countries, 
much  faster  than  the  population  as  a  whole  during  the 
last  century.  If  it  were  not  for  that,  Rhode  Island 
could  not  to-day  be  the  State  she  is.  Rhode  Island  has 
flourished  as  she  has  flourished  because  of  the  conditions 


PROVIDENCE  13 

which  have  brought  about  the  great  increase  in  urban  life. 
There  is  evil  in  these  conditions,  but  you  can't  destroy  it 
unless  you  destroy  the  civilization  they  have  brought 
about.  Where  men  are  gathered  together  in  great  masses, 
it  inevitably  results  that  they  must  work  far  more  largely 
through  combinations  than  where  they  live  scattered  and 
remote  from  one  another.  Many  of  us  prefer  the  old 
conditions  of  life,  under  which  the  average  man  lived 
more  to  himself  and  by  himself,  where  the  average  com 
munity  was  more  self-dependent,  and  where  even  though 
the  standard  of  comfort  was  lower  on  the  average,  yet 
there  was  less  of  the  glaring  inequality  in  worldly  condi 
tions  which  we  now  see  about  us  in  our  great  cities.  It 
is  not  true  that  the  poor  have  grown  poorer;  but  some 
of  the  rich  have  grown  so  very  much  richer  that,  where 
multitudes  of  men  are  herded  together  in  a  limited  space, 
the  contrast  strikes  the  onlooker  as  more  violent  than 
formerly.  On  the  whole,  our  people  earn  more  and  live 
better  than  ever  before,  and  the  progress  of  which  we  are 
so  proud  could  not  have  taken  place  had  it  not  been  for 
the  upbuilding  of  industrial  centres,  such  as  this  in  which 
I  am  speaking. 

But  together  with  the  good  there  has  come  a  measure 
of  evil.  Life  is  not  so  simple  as  it  was;  and  surely,  both 
for  the  individual  and  the  community,  the  simple  life  is 
normally  the  healthy  life.  There  is  not  in  the  great  cities 
the  feeling  of  brotherhood  which  there  is  still  in  country 
localities,  and  the  lines  of  social  cleavage  are  far  more 
deeply  marked. 

For  some  of  the  evils  which  have  attended  upon  the 
good  of  the  changed  conditions  we  can  at  present  see  no 
complete  remedy.  For  others  the  remedy  must  come  by 
the  action  of  men  themselves  in  their  private  capacity, 
whether  merely  as  individuals  or  by  combination.  For 
yet  others  some  remedy  can  be  found  in  legislative  and 
executive  action — national,  State,  or  municipal.  Much 


I4  ADDRESSES 

of  the  complaint  against  combinations  is  entirely  unwar 
ranted.  Under  present-day  conditions  it  is  as  necessary 
to  have  corporations  in  the  business  world  as  it  is  to  have 
organizations,  unions,  among  wage  workers.  We  have  a 
right  to  ask  in  each  case  only  this :  that  good  and  not 
harm  shall  follow.  Exactly  as  labor  organizations,  when 
managed  intelligently  and  in  a  spirit  of  justice  and 
fair  play,  are  of  very  great  service  not  only  to  the  wage 
workers  but  to  the  whole  community,  as  has  been 
shown  again  and  again  in  the  history  of  many  such 
organizations;  so  wealth,  not  merely  individual,  but  cor 
porate,  when  used  aright,  is  not  merely  beneficial  to  the 
community  as  a  whole,  but  is  absolutely  essential  to  the 
upbuilding  of  such  a  series  of  communities  as  those  whose 
citizens  I  am  now  addressing.  This  is  so  obvious  that  it 
ought  to  be  too  trite  to  mention,  and  yet  it  is  necessary 
to  mention  it  when  we  see  some  of  the  attacks  made  upon 
wealth,  as  such. 

Of  course  a  great  fortune,  if  used  wrongly,  is  a  menace 
to  the  community.  A  man  of  great  wealth  who  does  not 
use  that  wealth  decently  is  in  a  peculiar  sense  a  menace 
to  the  community,  and  so  is  the  man  who  does  not  use 
his  intellect  aright.  Each  talent — the  talent  for  making 
money,  the  talent  for  showing  intellect  at  the  bar,  or  in 
any  other  way,  if  unaccompanied  by  character,  makes  the 
possessor  a  menace  to  the  community.  But  such  a  fact 
no  more  warrants  us  in  attacking  wealth  than  it  does  in 
attacking  intellect.  Every  man  of  power  by  the  very  fact 
of  that  power  is  capable  of  doing  damage  to  his  neighbors ; 
but  we  cannot  afford  to  discourage  the  development  of 
such  men  merely  because  it  is  possible  they  may  use  their 
power  for  wrong  ends.  If  we  did  so  we  should  leave  our 
history  a  blank,  for  we  should  have  no  great  statesmen, 
soldiers,  merchants,  no  great  men  of  arts,  of  letters,  of 
science.  Doubtless  on  the  average  the  most  useful  citizen 
to  the  community  as  a  whole  is  the  man  to  whom  has 


PROVIDENCE  15 

been  granted  what  the  Psalmist  asked  for — neither  poverty 
nor  riches.  But  the  great  captain  of  industry,  the  man 
of  wealth,  who  alone  or  in  combination  with  his  fellows, 
drives  through  our  great  business  enterprises,  is  a  factor 
without  whom  the  civilization  that  we  see  round  about  us 
here  could  not  have  been  built  up.  Good,  not  harm, 
normally  comes  from  the  upbuilding  of  such  wealth. 
Probably  the  greatest  harm  done  by  vast  wealth  is  the 
harm  that  we  of  moderate  means  do  ourselves  when  we 
let  the  vices  of  envy  and  hatred  enter  deep  into  our  own 
natures. 

But  there  is  other  harm ;  and  it  is  evident  that  we 
should  try  to  do  away  with  that.  The  great  corporations 
which  we  have  grown  to  speak  of  rather  loosely  as  trusts 
are  the  creatures  of  the  State,  and  the  State  not  only  has 
the  right  to  control  them,  but  it  is  in  duty  bound  to  con 
trol  them  wherever  the  need  of  such  control  is  shown. 
There  is  clearly  need  of  supervision — need  to  possess  the 
power  of  regulation  of  these  great  corporations  through 
the  representatives  of  the  public,  wherever,  as  in  our  own 
country  at  the  present  time,  business  corporations  be 
come  so  very  powerful  alike  for  beneficent  work  and  for 
work  that  is  not  always  beneficent.  It  is  idle  to  say  that 
there  is  no  need  for  such  supervision.  There  is,  and  a 
sufficient  warrant  for  it  is  to  be  found  in  any  one  of  the 
admitted  evils  appertaining  to  them. 

We  meet  a  peculiar  difficulty  under  our  system  of  gov 
ernment,  because  of  the  division  of  governmental  power 
between  the  Nation  and  the  States.  When  the  industrial 
conditions  were  simple,  very  little  control  was  needed, 
and  the  difficulties  of  exercising  such  control  under  our 
Constitution  were  not  evident.  Now  the  conditions  are 
complicated  and  we  find  it  hard  to  frame  national  legis 
lation  which  shall  be  adequate ;  while  as  a  matter  of  prac 
tical  experience  it  has  been  shown  that  the  States  either 
cannot  or  will  not  exercise  a  sufficient  control  to  meet  the 


16  ADDRESSES 

needs  of  the  case.  Some  of  our  States  have  excellent 
laws — iaws  which  it  would  be  well  indeed  to  have  enacted 
by  the  national  legislature.  But  the  widespread  differ 
ences  in  these  laws,  even  between  adjacent  States,  and 
the  uncertainty  of  the  power  of  enforcement,  result  prac 
tically  in  altogether  insufficient  control.  I  believe  that 
the  nation  must  assume  this  power  of  control  by  legisla 
tion;  if  necessary,  by  constitutional  amendment.  The 
immediate  necessity  in  dealing  with  trusts  is  to  place 
them  under  the  real,  not  the  nominal,  control  of  some 
sovereign  to  which,  as  its  creatures,  the  trusts  shall  owe 
allegiance,  and  in  whose  courts  the  sovereign's  orders 
may  be  enforced. 

This  is  not  the  case  with  the  ordinary  so-called 
"  trust  "  to-day;  for  the  trust  nowadays  is  a  large  State 
corporation,  which  generally  does  business  in  other 
States,  often  with  a  tendency  toward  monopoly.  Such 
a  trust  is  an  artificial  creature  not  wholly  responsible 
to  or  controllable  by  any  legislation,  either  by  State  or 
Nation,  and  not  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  any  one 
court.  Some  governmental  sovereign  must  be  given  full 
power  over  these  artificial,  and  very  powerful,  corporate 
beings.  In  my  judgment  this  sovereign  must  be  the  Na 
tional  Government.  When  it  has  been  given  full  power,  \ 
then  this  full  power  can  be  used  to  control  any  evil  influ 
ence,  exactly  as  the  Government  is  now  using  the  power 
conferred  upon  it  by  the  Sherman  anti-trust  law. 

Even  when  the  power  has  been  granted,  it  w^uld  be 
most  unwise  to  exercise  it  too  much,  to  begin  by  too 
stringent  legislation.  The  mechanism  of  modern  business 
is  as  delicate  and  complicated  as  it  is  vast,  and  nothing 
would  be  more  productive  of  evil  to  all  of  us,  and  espe 
cially  to  those  least  well  off  in  this  world's  goods,  than 
ignorant  meddling  with  this  mechanism — above  all,  med 
dling  in  a  spirit  of  class  legislation  or  hatred  or  rancor. 
It  is  eminently  necessary  that  the  power  should  be  had, 


PROVIDENCE  17 

but  it  is  just  as  necessary  that  it  should  be  exercised  with 
wisdom  and  self-restraint.  The  first  exercise  of  that 
power  should  be  the  securing  of  publicity  among  all  great 
corporations  doing  an  interstate  business.  The  publicity, 
though  non-inquisitorial,  should  be  real  and  thorough  as 
to  all  important  facts  with  which  the  public  has  concern. 
Daylight  is  a  powerful  discourager  of  evil.  Such  pub 
licity  would  by  itself  tend  to  cure  the  evils  of  which 
there  is  just  complaint ;  it  would  show  us  if  evils  existed, 
and  where  the  evils  are  imaginary,  and  it  would  show  us 
what  next  ought  to  be  done. 

Above  all,  let  us  remember  that  our  success  in  ac 
complishing  anything  depends  very  much  upon  our  not 
trying  to  accomplish  everything.  Distrust  whoever  pre 
tends  to  offer  you  a  patent  cure-all  for  every  ill  of  the 
body  politic,  just  as  you  would  a  man  who  offers  a 
medicine  which  would  cure  every  evil  of  your  individual 
body.  A  medicine  that  is  recommended  to  cure  both 
asthma  and  a  broken  leg  is  not  good  for  either.  Man 
kind  has  moved  slowly  upward  through  the  ages,  some 
times  a  little  faster,  sometimes  a  little  slower,  but  rarely, 
indeed,  by  leaps  and  bounds.  At  times  a  great  crisis 
comes  in  which  a  great  people,  perchance  led  by  a  great 
man,  can  at  white  heat  strike  some  mighty  blow  for  the 
right — make  a  long  stride  in  advance  along  the  path  of 
justice  and  of  orderly  liberty.  But  normally  we  must  be 
content  if  each  of  us  can  do  something — not  all  that  we 
wish,  but  something — for  the  advancement  of  those  prin 
ciples  of  righteousness  which  underlie  all  real  national 
greatness,  all  true  civilization  and  freedom.  I  see  no 
promise  of  any  immediate  and  complete  solution  of 
all  the  problems  we  group  together  when  we  speak  of 
the  trust  question.  But  we  can  make  a  beginning  in 
solving  these  problems,  and  a  good  beginning,  if  only  we 
approach  the  subject  with  a  sufficiency  of  resolution,  of 
honesty,  and  of  that  hard  common-sense  which  is  one 


1 8  ADDRESSES 

of  the  most  valuable,  and  not  always  one  of  the  most 
common,  assets  in  any  nation's  greatness.  The  exist 
ing  laws  will  be  fully  enforced  as  they  stand  on  the  stat 
ute  books  without  regard  to  persons,  and  I  think  good 
has  already  come  from  their  enforcement.  I  think 
furthermore  that  additional  legislation  should  be  had  and 
can  be  had,  which  will  enable  us  to  accomplish  much 
more  along  the  same  lines.  No  man  can  promise  a  per 
fect  solution,  at  least  in  the  immediate  future.  But 
something  has  already  been  done,  and  much  more  can  be 
done  if  our  people  temperately  and  determinedly  will 
that  it  shall  be  done. 

In  conclusion  let  me  add  one  word.  While  we  are  not 
to  be  excused  if  we  fail  to  do  whatever  is  possible  through 
the  agency  of  Government,  we  must  keep  ever  in  mind 
that  no  action  of  the  Government,  no  action  by  combina 
tion  among  ourselves,  can  take  the  place-of  the  individual 
qualities  to  which  in  the  long  run  every  man  must  owe 
the  success  he  can  make  of  life.  There  never  has  been 
devised,  and  there  never  will  be  devised,  any  law  which 
will  enable  a  man  to  succeed  save  by  the  exercise  of  those 
qualities  which  have  always  been  the  prerequisites  of  suc 
cess — the  qualities  of  hard  work,  of  keen  intelligence,  of 
unflinching  will.  Such  action  can  supplement  those  quali 
ties,  but  it  cannot  take  their  place.  No  action  by  the 
State  can  do  more  than  supplement  the  initiative  of  the 
individual ;  and  ordinarily  the  action  of  the  State  can  do 
no  more  than  to  secure  to  each  individual  the  chance  to 
show  under  as  favorable  conditions  as  possible  the  stuff 
that  there  is  in  him. 


Ill 

AT  SYMPHONY  HALL,  BOSTON,  AUGUST  25,1902 

Governor  Crane,  Mayor  Collins,  men  and  women  of  Boston  : 
I  want  to  take  up  this  evening  the  general  question  of 
our  economic  and  social  relations,  with  specific  reference 
to  that  problem  with  which  I  think  our  people  are  now 
greatly  concerning  themselves — the  problem  of  our  com 
plex  social  condition  as  intensified  by  the  existence  of  the 
great  corporations  which  we  rather  loosely  designate  as 
trusts.  I  have  not  come  here  to  say  that  I  have  dis 
covered  a  patent  cure-all  for  any  evils.  When  peo 
ple's  minds  are  greatly  agitated  on  any  subject,  and 
especially  when  they  feel  deeply  but  rather  vaguely 
that  conditions  are  not  right,  it  is  far  pleasanter  in  ad 
dressing  them  to  be  indifferent  as  to  what  you  promise; 
but  it  is  much  less  pleasant  afterwards,  when  you  come 
to  try  to  carry  out  what  has  been  promised.  Of  course 
the  worth  of  a  promise  consists  purely  in  the  way  in 
which  the  performance  squares  with  it.  That  has  two 
sides.  In  the  first  place,  if  a  man  is  an  honest  man  he 
will  try  just  as  hard  to  keep  a  promise  made  on  the 
stump  as  one  made  off  the  stump.  In  the  second  place, 
if  the  people  keep  their  heads  they  won't  wish  promises 
to  be  made  which  are  impossible  of  performance.  You 
see,  one  side  of  that  question  represents  my  duty,  and 
the  other  side  yours. 

Mankind    goes   ahead  but  slowly,  and  it  goes   ahead 
mainly  through  each  of  us  trying  to  do  the  best  that  is  in 

19 


20  ADDRESSES 

him  and  to  do  it  in  the  sanest  way.  We  have  founded 
our  republic  upon  the  theory  that  the  average  man  will, 
as  a  rule,  do  the  right  thing,  that  in  the  long  run  the  ma 
jority  will  decide  for  what  is  sane  and  wholesome.  If  our 
fathers  were  mistaken  in  that  theory,  if  ever  the  times 
become  such — not  occasionally  but  persistently — that  the 
mass  of  the  people  do  what  is  unwholesome,  what  is 
wrong,  then  the  republic  cannot  stand,  I  care  not  how 
good  its  laws,  I  care  not  what  marvellous  mechanism  its 
Constitution  may  embody.  Back  of  the  laws,  back  of  the 
administration,  back  of  the  system  of  government  lies 
the  man,  lies  the  average  manhood  of  our  people,  and  in 
the  long  run  we  are  going  to  go  up  or  go  down  accord 
ingly  as  the  average  standard  of  our  citizenship  does  or 
does  not  wax  in  growth  and  grace. 

The  first  requisite  of  good  citizenship  is  that  the  man 
shall  do  the  homely,  every-day,  humdrum  duties  well. 
A  man  is  not  a  good  citizen,  I  do  not  care  how  lofty  his 
thoughts  are  about  citizenship  in  the  abstract,  if  in  the 
concrete  his  actions  do  not  bear  them  out ;  and  it  does 
not  make  much  difference  how  high  his  aspirations  for 
mankind  at  large  may  be,  if  he  does  not  behave  well  in 
his  own  family  those  aspirations  do  not  bear  visible  fruit. 
He  must  be  a  good  breadwinner,  he  must  take  care  of  his 
wife  and  his  children,  he  must  be  a  neighbor  whom  his 
neighbors  can  trust,  he  must  act  squarely  in  his  busi 
ness  relations, — he  must  do  all  these  every-day,  ordinary 
duties  first,  or  he  is  not  a  good  citizen.  But  he  must  do 
more.  In  this  country  of  ours  the  average  citizen  must 
devote  a  good  deal  of  thought  and  time  to  the  affairs  of 
the  State  as  a  whole  or  those  affairs  will  go  backward ; 
and  he  must  devote  that  thought  and  that  time  steadily 
and  intelligently.  If  there  is  any  one  quality  that  is  not 
admirable,  whether  in  a  nation  or  in  an  individual,  it  is 
hysterics,  either  in  religion  or  in  anything  else.  The 
man  or  woman  who  makes  up  for  ten  days'  indifference 


SYMPHONY  HALL,  BOSTON  21 

to  duty  by  an  eleventh-day  morbid  repentance  about  that 
duty  is  of  scant  use  in  the  world.  Now  in  the  same  way 
it  is  of  no  possible  use  to  decline  to  go  through  all  the 
ordinary  duties  of  citizenship  for  a  long  space  of  time  and 
then  suddenly  to  get  up  and  feel  very  angry  about  some 
thing  or  somebody,  not  clearly  defined,  and  demand  re 
form,  as  if  it  was  a  concrete  substance  to  be  handed  out 
forthwith. 

This  is  preliminary  to  what  I  want  to  say  to  you  about 
the  whole  question  of  great  corporations  as  affecting  the 
public.  There  are  very  many  and  very  difficult  problems 
with  which  we  are  faced  as  the  results  of  the  forces  which 
have  been  in  play  for  more  than  the  lifetime  of  a  genera 
tion.  It  is  worse  than  useless  for  any  of  us  to  rail  at  or 
regret  the  great  growth  of  our  industrial  civilization  dur 
ing  the  last  half  century.  Speaking  academically,  we 
can,  according  to  our  several  temperaments,  regret  that 
the  old  days  with  the  old  life  have  vanished,  or  not,  just 
as  we  choose ;  but  we  are  here  to-night  only  because  of 
the  play  of  those  great  forces.  There  is  but  little  use  in 
regretting  that  things  have  been  shaping  themselves  dif 
ferently  from  what  we  might  have  preferred.  The  prac 
tical  thing  to  do  is  to  face  the  conditions  as  they  are  and 
see  if  we  cannot  get  the  best  there  is  in  them  out  of  them. 
Now  we  shall  not  get  a  complete  or  perfect  solution  for 
all  of  the  evils  attendant  upon  the  development  of  the 
trusts  by  any  single  action  on  our  part.  A  good  many 
actions  in  a  good  many  different  ways  will  be  required 
before  we  get  many  of  those  evils  even  partially  remedied. 
We  must  first  of  all  think  clearly ;  we  must  probably  ex 
periment  somewhat;  we  must  above  all  show  by  our 
actions  that  our  interest  is  permanent  and  not  spasmodic ; 
and  we  must  see  that  all  proper  steps  are  taken  toward 
the  solution.  Now  of  course  all  this  is  perfectly  trite. 
Every  one  who  thinks  knows  that  the  only  way  in  which 
any  problem  of  great  importance  was  ever  successfully 


22  ADDRESSES 

solved  was  by  consistent  and  persistent  effort  toward  a 
given  end — effort  that  did  not  cease  with  any  one  election 
or  with  any  one  year,  but  was  continued  steadily,  temper 
ately,  but  resolutely,  toward  a  given  end.  It  is  a  little 
difficult  to  set  clearly  before  us  all  of  the  evils  attendant 
upon  the  working  of  some  of  our  great  corporations,  but 
I  think  that  those  gentlemen,  and  especially  those  gentle 
men  of  large  means,  who  deny  that  the  evils  exist,  are 
acting  with  great  folly.  So  far  from  being  against  prop 
erty  when  I  ask  that  the  question  of  the  trusts  be  taken 
up,  I  am  acting  in  the  most  conservative  sense  in  prop 
erty's  interest.  When  a  great  corporation  is  sued  for 
violating  the  anti-trust  law,  it  is  not  a  move  against 
property,  it  is  a  move  in  favor  of  property,  because 
when  we  make  it  evident  that  all  men,  great  and  small 
alike,  have  to  obey  the  law,  we  put  the  safeguard  of  the 
law  around  all  men.  When  we  make  it  evident  that  no 
man  shall  be  excused  for  violating  the  law,  we  make  it 
evident  that  every  man  will  be  protected  from  violations 
of  the  law. 

Now  one  of  the  great  troubles — I  am  inclined  to  think 
much  the  greatest  trouble — in  any  immediate  handling 
of  the  question  of  the  trusts  comes  from  our  system  of 
government.  Under  this  system  it  is  difficult  to  say 
where  the  power  is  lodged  to  deal  with  these  evils.  Re 
member  that  I  am  not  saying  that  even  if  we  had  all  the 
power  we  could  completely  solve  the  trust  question.  If 
what  we  read  in  the  papers  is  true,  international  trusts 
are  now  being  planned.  It  is  going  to  be  very  difficult 
for  any  set  of  laws  on  our  part  to  deal  completely  with 
the  problem  which  becomes  international  in  its  bearings. 
But  a  great  deal  can  be  done  in  various  ways  even  now — 
a  great  deal  is  being  done,  and  a  great  deal  more  can  be 
done — if  we  see  that  the  power  is  lodged  somewhere  to  do 
it.  On  the  whole,  our  system  of  government  has  worked 
marvellously  well  —  the  system  of  divided  functions  of 


SYMPHONY  HALL,  BOSTON  23 

government,  of  arranging  a  scheme  under  which  Maine, 
Louisiana,  Oregon,  Idaho,  New  York,  Illinois,  South 
Carolina,  can  all  come  together  for  certain  purposes,  and 
yet  each  be  allowed  to  work  out  its  salvation  as  it  desires 
along  certain  other  lines.  On  the  whole  this  has  worked 
well,  but  in  some  respects  it  has  worked  ill.  While  I  most 
firmly  believe  in  fixity  of  policy,  I  do  not  believe  that  that 
policy  should  be  fossilized,  and  when  conditions  change  we 
must  change  our  governmental  methods  to  meet  them.  I 
believe  with  all  my  heart  in  the  New  England  town  meet 
ing,  but  you  can't  work  the  New  England  town  meeting 
in  Boston — it  is  too  big.  You  must  devise  something  else. 
If  you  look  back  in  the  history  of  Boston  you  will  find  that 
Boston  was  very  reluctant  to  admit  this  particular  truth  for 
some  time  in  the  first  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
When  this  Government  was  founded  there  were  no  great 
individual  or  corporate  fortunes,  and  commerce  and  in 
dustry  were  being  carried  on  very  much  as  they  had  been 
carried  on  in  the  days  when  Nineveh  and  Babylon  stood 
in  the  Mesopotamian  Valley.  Sails,  oars,  wheels — these 
were  the  instruments  of  commerce.  The  pack-train,  the 
wagon-train,  the  rowboat,  the  sailing  craft — these  were 
the  methods  of  commerce.  Everything  has  been  revolu 
tionized  in  the  business  world  since  then,  and  the  progress 
of  civilization  from  being  a  dribble  has  become  a  torrent. 
There  was  no  particular  need  at  that  time  of  bothering 
as  to  whether  the  Nation  or  the  State  had  control  of  cor 
porations.  They  were  easy  to  control.  Now,  however, 
the  exact  reverse  is  the  case.  And  remember  when  I 
say  corporations  I  do  not  mean  merely  trusts,  technically 
so-called,  merely  combinations  of  corporations,  or  corpo 
rations  under  certain  peculiar  conditions.  For  instance, 
some  time  ago  the  Attorney-General  took  action  against 
a  certain  trust.  There  was  considerable  discussion  as  to 
whether  the  trust  aimed  at  would  not  seek  to  get  out 
from  under  the  law  by  becoming  a  single  corporation. 


24  ADDRESSES 

Now  I  want  laws  that  will  enable  us  to  deal  with  any 
evil  no  matter  what  shape  it  takes.  I  want  to  see  the 
Government  able  to  get  at  it  definitely,  so  that  the  ac 
tion  of  the  Government  cannot  be  evaded  by  any  turn 
ing  within  or  without  Federal  or  State  statutes.  At 
present  we  have  really  no  efficient  control  over  a  big  cor 
poration  which  does  business  in  more  than  one  State. 
Frequently  the  corporation  has  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  the  State  in  which  it  is  incorporated  except  to  get 
incorporated ;  and  all  its  business  may  be  done  in  entirely 
different  communities — communities  which  may  object 
very  much  to  the  methods  of  incorporation  in  the  State 
named.  I  do  not  believe  that  you  can  get  any  action  by 
any  State,  I  do  not  believe  it  practicable  to  get  action 
by  all  the  States  that  will  give  us  satisfactory  control  of 
the  trusts,  of  big  corporations ;  and  the  result  is  at  present 
that  we  have  a  great,  powerful,  artificial  creation  which 
has  no  creator  to  which  it  is  responsible.  The  creator 
creates  it  and  then  it  goes  and  operates  somewhere  else, 
and  there  is  no  interest  on  the  part  of  the  creator  to  deal 
with  it.  It  does  not  do  anything  where  the  creator  has 
power;  it  operates  entirely  outside  of  the  creator's  juris 
diction. 

It  is,  of  course,  a  mere  truism  to  say  that  the  corpo 
ration  is  the  creature  of  the  State,  that  the  State  is 
sovereign.  There  should  be  a  real  and  not  a  nominal 
sovereign,  some  one  sovereign  to  which  the  corpora 
tion  shall  be  really  and  not  nominally  responsible. 
At  present  if  we  pass  laws  nobody  can  tell  whether 
they  will  amount  to  anything.  That  has  two  bad  ef 
fects.  In  the  first  place,  the  corporation  becomes  indif 
ferent  to  the  law-making  body;  and  in  the  next  place, 
the  law-making  body  gets  into  that  most  pernicious 
custom  of  passing  a  law  not  with  reference  to  what 
will  be  done  under  it,  but  with  reference  to  its  effects 
upon  the  opinions  of  the  voters.  That  is  a  bad  thing. 


SYMPHONY  HALL,  BOSTON  25 

When  any  body  of  lawmakers  passes  a  law,  not  simply 
with  reference  to  whether  that  law  will  do  good  or  ill, 
but  with  the  knowledge  that  not  much  will  come  of  it, 
and  yet  that  perhaps  the  people  as  a  whole  will  like  to 
see  it  on  the  statute  books — it  does  not  speak  well  for 
the  lawmakers  and  it  does  not  speak  well  for  the  people 
either.  What  I  hope  to  see  is  power  given  to  the  national 
legislature  which  shall  make  the  control  real.  It  would 
be  an  excellent  thing  if  you  could  have  all  the  States  act 
on  somewhat  similar  lines  so  that  you  would  make  it  un 
necessary  for  the  National  Government  to  act ;  but  all  of 
you  know  perfectly  well  that  the  States  will  not  act  on 
similar  lines.  No  advance  whatever  has  been  made  in 
the  direction  of  intelligent  dealing  by  the  States  as  a 
collective  body  with  these  great  corporations.  Here  in 
Massachusetts  you  have  what  I  regard  as  on  the  whole 
excellent  corporation  laws.  Most  of  our  difficulties  would 
be  in  a  fair  way  of  solution  if  we  had  the  power  to  put 
upon  the  national  statute  books,  and  did  put  upon  them, 
laws  for  the  nation  much  like  those  you  have  here  on  the 
subject  of  corporations  in  Massachusetts.  So  you  can 
see,  gentlemen,  I  am  not  advocating  anything  very  revo 
lutionary.  I  am  advocating  action  to  prevent  anything 
revolutionary.  Now  if  we  can  get  adequate  control  by 
the  nation  of  these  great  corporations,  then  we  can  pass 
legislation  which  will  give  us  the  power  of  regulation  and 
supervision  over  them.  If  the  nation  had  that  power, 
mind  you,  I  should  advocate  as  strenuously  as  I  knew 
how  that  the  power  should  be  exercised  with  extreme 
caution  and  self-restraint.  No  good  will  come  from 
plunging  in  without  having  looked  carefully  ahead.  The 
first  thing  we  want  is  publicity ;  and  I  do  not  mean  pub 
licity  as  a  favor  by  some  corporations — I  mean  it  as  a 
right  from  all  corporations  affected  by  the  law.  I  want 
publicity  as  to  the  essential  facts  in  which  the  public  has  an 
interest.  I  want  the  knowledge  given  to  the  accredited 


26  ADDRESSES 

representatives  of  the  people  of  facts  upon  which  those 
representatives  can  if  they  see  fit  base  their  actions  later. 
The  publicity  itself  would  cure  many  evils.  The  light  of 
day  is  a  great  deterrer  of  wrong-doing.  The  mere  fact  of 
being  able  to  put  out  nakedly  and  with  the  certainty  that 
the  statements  were  true  a  given  condition  of  things 
that  was  wrong,  would  go  a  long  distance  toward  curing 
that  wrong ;  and  even  where  it  did  not  cure  it  it  would 
make  the  path  evident  by  which  to  cure  it.  We  would 
not  be  leaping  in  the  dark;  we  would  not  be  striving 
blindly  to  see  what  was  good  and  what  bad.  We  would 
know  what  the  facts  were  and  be  able  to  shape  our  course 
accordingly. 

A  good  deal  can  be  done  now,  a  good  deal  is  being  done 
now.  As  far  as  the  anti-trust  laws  go  they  will  be  en 
forced.  No  suit  will  be  undertaken  for  the  sake  of  seem 
ing  to  undertake  it.  Every  suit  that  is  undertaken  will 
be  begun  because  the  great  lawyer  and  upright  man  whom 
we  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  as  Attorney-General, 
Mr.  Knox,  believes  that  there  is  a  violation  of  the  law 
which  we  can  get  at ;  and  when  the  suit  is  undertaken  it 
will  not  be  compromised  except  upon  the  basis  that  the 
Government  wins.  Of  course,  gentlemen,  no  laws  amount 
to  anything  unless  they  are  administered  honestly  and 
fearlessly.  We  must  have  such  administration  or  the  law 
will  amount  to  nothing.  I  believe  that  it  is  possible  to 
frame  national  legislation  which  shall  give  us  far  more 
power  than  we  now  have,  at  any  rate  over  corporations 
doing  an  interstate  business.  I  cannot  guarantee  that, 
because  in  the  past  it  has  more  than  once  happened  that 
we  have  put  laws  on  the  statute  books  which  those  who 
made  them  intended  to  mean  one  thing,  and  when  they 
came  up  for  decision  by  the  courts  it  was  found  that  the 
intention  had  not  been  successfully  put  into  effect.  But 
I  believe  that  additional  legislation  can  be  had.  If  my 
belief  is  wrong,  if  it  proves  evident  that  we  cannot  under 


SYMPHONY  HALL,  BOSTON  27 

the  Constitution  as  it  is,  give  the  national  administration 
sufficient  power  to  deal  with  these  great  corporations, 
then,  no  matter  what  our  reverence  for  the  past,  our  duty 
to  the  present  and  the  future  will  force  us  to  see  that 
some  power  is  conferred  upon  the  National  Government. 
And  when  that  power  has  been  conferred,  then  it  will 
rest  with  the  National  Government  to  exercise  it. 


IV 

AT  HAVERHILL,  MASS.,  AUGUST  26,  1902 

My  fellow-citizens  : 

Naturally  at  the  home  of  Secretary  Moody  I  should 
like  to  say  a  word  or  two  about  the  navy.  I  think  that 
whenever  we  touch  on  the  navy  we  are  sure  of  a  hearty 
response  from  any  American  audience;  we  are  just  as 
sure  of  such  a  response  in  the  mountains  and  great 
plains  of  the  West  as  upon  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  sea 
boards.  The  entire  country  is  vitally  interested  in  the 
navy,  because  an  efficient  navy  of  adequate  size  is  not 
only  the  best  guarantee  of  peace,  but  is  also  the  surest 
means  for  seeing  that  if  war  does  come  the  result  shall 
be  honorable  to  our  good  name  and  favorable  to  our 
national  interests. 

Any  really  great  nation  must  be  peculiarly  sensitive  to 
two  things:  stain  on  the  national  honor  at  home,  and 
disgrace  to  the  national  arms  abroad.  Our  honor  at 
home,  our  honor  in  domestic  and  internal  affairs  is  at  all 
times  in  our  own  keeping  and  depends  simply  upon  the 
national  possession  of  an  awakened  public  conscience. 
But  the  only  way  to  make  safe  our  honor  as  affected,  not 
by  our  own  deeds,  but  by  the  deeds  of  others,  is  by  readi 
ness  in  advance.  In  three  great  crises  in  our  history 
during  the  nineteenth  century — in  the  War  of  1812,  in 
the  Civil  War,  and  again  in  the  Spanish  War — the  navy 
rendered  to  the  nation  services  of  literally  incalculable 
worth.  In  the  Civil  War  we  had  to  meet  antagonists  even 

28 


HA  VERHILL  29 

more  unprepared  at  sea  than  we  were.  On  both  the  other 
occasions  we  encountered  foreign  foes,  and  the  fighting 
was  done  entirely  by  ships  built  long  in  advance,  and  by 
officers  and  crews  who  had  been  trained  during  years  of 
sea  service  for  the  supreme  day  when  their  qualities  were 
put  to  the  final  test.  The  ships  which  won  at  Manila 
and  Santiago  under  the  administration  of  President  Mc- 
Kinley  had  been  built  years  before  under  Presidents 
Arthur  and  Cleveland  and  Harrison.  The  officers  in 
those  ships  had  been  trained  from  their  earliest  youth  to 
their  profession,  and  the  enlisted  men,  in  addition  to  their 
natural  aptitude,  their  intelligence,  and  their  courage,  had 
been  drilled  as  marksmen  with  the  great  guns  and  as 
machinists  in  the  engine-rooms,  and  perfected  in  all  the 
details  of  their  work  during  years  of  cruising  on  the  high 
seas  and  of  incessant  target  practice.  It  was  this  pre 
paredness  which  was  the  true  secret  of  the  enormous 
difference  in  efficiency  between  our  navy  and  the  Spanish 
navy.  There  was  no  lack  of  courage  and  self-devotion 
among  the  Spaniards,  but  on  our  side,  in  addition  to  the 
courage  and  devotion,  for  the  lack  of  which  no  training 
could  atone,  there  was  also  that  training — the  training 
which  comes  only  as  the  result  of  years  of  thorough  and 
painstaking  practice. 

Annapolis  is,  with  the  sole  exception  of  its  sister  acad 
emy  at  West  Point,  the  most  typically  democratic  and 
American  school  of  learning  and  preparation  that  there  is 
in  the  entire  country.  Men  go  there  from  every  State, 
from  every  walk  of  life,  professing  every  creed — the  chance 
of  entry  being  open  to  all  who  perfect  themselves  in  the 
necessary  studies  and  who  possess  the  necessary  moral 
and  physical  qualities.  There  each  man  enters  on  his 
merits,  stands  on  his  merits,  and  graduates  into  a  service 
where  only  his  merit  will  enable  him  to  be  of  value. 

The  enlisted  men  are  of  fine  type,  as  they  needs  must 
be  to  do  their  work  well,  whether  in  the  gun  turret  or  in 


30  ADDRESSES 

the  engine-room ;  and  out  of  the  fine  material  thus  pro 
vided,  the  finished  man-of-war's  man  is  evolved  by  years 
of  sea  service. 

It  is  impossible  after  the  outbreak  of  war  to  improvise 
either  the  ships  or  the  men  of  a  navy.  A  war  vessel  is  a 
bit  of  mechanism  as  delicate  and  complicated  as  it  is 
formidable.  You  might  just  as  well  expect  to  turn  an 
unskilled  laborer  off-hand  into  a  skilled  machinist  or  into 
the  engineer  of  a  flyer  on  one  of  our  big  railroad  systems, 
as  to  put  men  aboard  a  battleship  with  the  expectation 
that  they  will  do  anything  but  discredit  themselves  until 
they  have  had  months  and  years  in  which  thoroughly  to 
learn  their  duties.  Our  shipbuilders  and  gunmakers  must 
keep  ever  on  the  alert  so  that  no  rivals  pass  them  by ; 
and  the  officers  and  enlisted  men  on  board  the  ships  must 
in  their  turn,  by  the  exercise  of  unflagging  and  intelligent 
zeal,  keep  themselves  fit  to  get  the  best  use  out  of  the 
weapons  of  war  intrusted  to  their  care.  The  instrument 
is  always  important,  but  the  man  who  uses  it  is  more  im 
portant  still.  We  must  constantly  endeavor  to  perfect 
our  navy  in  all  its  duties  in  time  of  peace,  and  above  all 
in  manoeuvring  in  a  sea-way  and  in  marksmanship  with 
the  great  guns.  In  battle  the  only  shots  that  count  are 
those  that  hit,  and  marksmanship  is  a  matter  of  long 
practice  and  of  intelligent  reasoning.  A  navy's  efficiency 
in  a  war  depends  mainly  upon  its  preparedness  at  the 
outset  of  that  war.  We  are  not  to  be  excused  as  a  nation 
if  there  is  not  such  preparedness  of  our  navy.  This  is 
especially  so  in  view  of  what  we  have  done  during  the 
last  four  years.  No  nation  has  a  right  to  undertake  a  big 
task  unless  it  is  prepared  to  do  it  in  masterful  and  effec 
tive  style.  It  would  be  an  intolerable  humiliation  for  us 
to  embark  on  such  a  course  of  action  as  followed  from 
our  declaration  of  war  with  Spain,  and  not  make  good 
our  words  by  deeds — not  be  ready  to  prove  our  truth  by 
our  endeavor  whenever  the  need  calls.  The  good  work  of 


HAVERHILL  31 

building  up  the  navy  must  go  on  without  ceasing.  The 
modern  warship  cannot  with  advantage  be  allowed  to 
rust  in  disuse.  It  must  be  used  up  in  active  service  even 
in  time  of  peace.  This  means  that  there  must  be  a  con 
stant  replacement  of  the  ineffective  by  the  effective.  The 
work  of  building  up  and  keeping  up  our  navy  is  therefore 
one  which  needs  our  constant  and  unflagging  vigilance. 
Our  navy  is  now  efficient ;  but  we  must  be  content  with 
no  ordinary  degree  of  efficiency.  Every  effort  must  be 
made  to  bring  it  ever  nearer  to  perfection.  In  making 
such  effort  the  prime  factor  is  to  have  at  the  head  of  the 
navy  such  an  official  as  your  fellow-townsman,  Mr.  Moody ; 
and  the  next  is  to  bring  home  to  our  people  as  a  whole 
the  need  of  thorough  and  ample  preparation  in  advance ; 
this  preparation  to  take  the  form  not  only  of  continually 
building  ships,  but  of  keeping  these  ships  in  commission 
under  conditions  which  will  develop  the  highest  degree 
of  efficiency  in  the  officers  and  enlisted  men  aboard  them. 


AT  BANGOR,  MAINE,  AUGUST  27,   1902 

My  fellow-citizens  : 

I  am  glad  to  greet  the  farmers  of  Maine.  During  the 
century  that  has  closed,  the  growth  of  industrialism  has 
necessarily  meant  that  cities  and  towns  have  increased  in 
population  more  rapidly  than  the  country  districts.  And 
yet  it  remains  true  now,  as  it  always  has  been,  that  in 
the  last  resort  the  country  districts  are  those  in  which  we 
are  surest  to  find  the  old  American  spirit,  the  old  Ameri 
can  habits  of  thought  and  ways  of  living.  Conditions 
have  changed  in  the  country  far  less  than  they  have 
changed  in  the  cities,  and  in  consequence  there  has  been 
little  breaking  away  from  the  methods  of  life  which  have 
produced  the  great  majority  of  the  leaders  of  the  republic 
in  the  past.  Almost  all  of  our  great  Presidents  have  been 
brought  up  in  the  country,  and  most  of  them  worked 
hard  on  the  farms  in  their  youth  and  got  their  early  men 
tal  training  in  the  healthy  democracy  of  farm  life. 

The  forces  which  made  these  farm-bred  boys  leaders  of 
men  when  they  had  come  to  their  full  manhood  are  still 
at  work  in  our  country  districts.  Self-help  and  individual 
initiative  remain  to  a  peculiar  degree  typical  of  life  in  the 
country,  life  on  a  farm,  in  the  lumbering  camp,  on  a 
ranch.  Neither  the  farmers  nor  their  hired  hands  can 
work  through  combinations  as  readily  as  the  capitalists 
or  wage  workers  of  cities  can  work. 

It  must  not  be  understood  from  this  that  there  has 

32 


BANG  OR  33 

been  no  change  in  farming  and  farm  life.  The  contrary 
is  the  case.  There  has  been  much  change,  much  progress. 
The  granges  and  similar  organizations,  the  farmers'  insti 
tutes,  and  all  the  agencies  which  promote  intelligent  co 
operation  and  give  opportunity  for  social  and  intellectual 
intercourse  among  the  farmers,  have  played  a  large  part 
in  raising  the  level  of  life  and  work  in  the  country  dis 
tricts.  In  the  domain  of  government,  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  since  its  foundation  has  accomplished  re 
sults  as  striking  as  those  obtained  under  any  other  branch 
of  the  national  administration.  By  scientific  study  of  all 
matters  connected  with  the  advancement  of  farm  life ;  by 
experimental  stations ;  by  the  use  of  trained  agents,  sent 
to  the  uttermost  countries  of  the  globe ;  by  the  practical 
application  of  anything  which  in  theory  has  been  demon 
strated  to  be  efficient ;  in  these  ways,  and  in  many  others, 
great  good  has  been  accomplished  in  raising  the  standard 
of  productiveness  in  farm  work  throughout  the  country. 
We  live  in  an  era  when  the  best  results  can  only  be 
achieved,  if  to  individual  self-help  we  add  the  mutual 
self-help  which  comes  by  combination,  both  of  citizens  in 
their  individual  capacity  and  of  citizens  working  through 
the  State  as  an  instrument.  The  farmers  of  the  country 
have  grown  more  and  more  to  realize  this,  and  farming 
has  tended  more  and  more  to  take  its  place  as  an  applied 
science — though  as  with  everything  else  the  theory  must 
be  tested  in  practical  work  and  can  avail  only  when  applied 
in  practical  fashion. 

But  after  all  this  has  been  said  it  remains  true  that  the 
countryman, — the  man  on  the  farm,  more  than  any  other 
of  our  citizens  to-day,  is  called  upon  continually  to  exer 
cise  the  qualities  which  we  like  to  think  of  as  typical  of 
the  United  States  throughout  its  history — the  qualities 
of  rugged  independence,  masterful  resolution,  and  indi 
vidual  energy  and  resourcefulness.  He  works  hard  (for 
which  no  man  is  to  be  pitied),  and  often  he  lives  hard 


34  ADDRESSES 

(which  may  not  be  pleasant);  but  his  life  is  passed  in 
healthy  surroundings,  surroundings  which  tend  to  develop 
a  fine  type  of  citizenship.  In  the  country,  moreover,  the 
conditions  are  fortunately  such  as  to  allow  a  closer  touch 
between  man  and  man  than,  too  often,  we  find  to  be  the 
case  in  the  city.  Men  feel  more  vividly  the  underlying 
sense  of  brotherhood,  of  community  of  interest.  I  do 
not  mean  by  this  that  there  are  not  plenty  of  problems 
connected  with  life  in  our  rural  districts.  There  are  many 
problems ;  and  great  wisdom  and  earnest  disinterestedness 
in  effort  are  needed  for  their  solution. 

After  all,  we  are  one  people,  with  the  same  fundamental 
characteristics,  whether  we  live  in  the  city  or  in  the  coun 
try,  in  the  east  or  in  the  west,  in  the  north  or  in  the  south. 
Each  of  us,  unless  he  is  contented  to  be  a  cumberer  of 
the  earth's  surface,  must  strive  to  do  his  life-work  with 
his  whole  heart.  Each  must  remember  that  while  he  will 
be  noxious  to  every  one  unless  he  first  do  his  duty  by 
himself,  he  must  also  strive  ever  to  do  his  duty  by  his 
fellow.  The  problem  of  how  to  do  these  duties  is  acute 
everywhere.  It  is  most  acute  in  great  cities,  but  it  exists 
in  the  country  too.  A  man,  to  be  a  good  citizen,  must 
first  be  a  good  breadwinner,  a  good  husband,  a  good 
father — I  hope  the  father  of  many  healthy  children;  just 
as  a  woman's  first  duty  is  to  be  a  good  housewife  and 
mother.  The  business  duties,  the  home  duties,  the  duties 
to  one's  family,  come  first.  The  couple  who  bring  up 
plenty  of  healthy  children,  who  leave  behind  them  many 
sons  and  daughters  fitted  in  their  turn  to  be  good  citizens, 
emphatically  deserve  well  of  the  State. 

But  duty  to  one's  self  and  one's  family  does  not  ex 
clude  duty  to  one's  neighbor.  Each  of  us,  rich  or  poor, 
can  help  his  neighbor  at  times ;  and  to  do  this  he  must  be 
brought  into  touch  with  him,  into  sympathy  with  him. 
Any  effort  is  to  be  welcomed  that  brings  people  closer 
together,  so  as  to  secure  a  better  understanding  among 


BANGOR  35 

those  whose  walks  of  life  are  in  ordinary  circumstances  far 
apart.  Probably  the  good  done  is  almost  equally  great 
on  both  sides,  no  matter  which  one  may  seem  to  be  help 
ing  the  other.  But  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  no  good 
will  be  accomplished  at  all  by  any  philanthropic  or  chari 
table  work,  unless  it  is  done  along  certain  definite  lines. 
In  the  first  place,  if  the  work  is  done  in  a  spirit  of  con 
descension  it  would  be  better  never  to  attempt  it.  It  is 
almost  as  irritating  to  be  patronized  as  to  be  wronged. 
The  only  safe  way  of  working  is  to  try  to  find  out  some 
scheme  by  which  it  is  possible  to  make  a  common  effort 
for  the  common  good.  Each  of  us  needs  at  times  to 
have  a  helping  hand  stretched  out  to  him  or  her.  Every 
one  of  us  slips  on  some  occasion,  and  shame  to  his  fellow 
who  then  refuses  to  stretch  out  the  hand  that  should 
always  be  ready  to  help  the  man  who  stumbles.  It  is 
our  duty  to  lift  him  up ;  but  it  is  also  our  duty  to  remem 
ber  that  there  is  no  earthly  use  in  trying  to  carry  him.  If 
a  man  will  submit  to  being  carried,  that  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  he  is  not  worth  carrying.  In  the  long  run,  the 
only  kind  of  help  that  really  avails  is  the  help  which 
teaches  a  man  to  help  himself.  Such  help  every  man 
who  has  been  blessed  in  life  should  try  to  give  to  those 
who  are  less  fortunate,  and  such  help  can  be  accepted 
with  entire  self-respect. 

The  aim  to  set  before  ourselves  in  trying  to  aid  one 
another  is  to  give  that  aid  under  conditions  which  will 
harm  no  man's  self-respect  and  which  will  teach  the  less 
fortunate  how  to  help  themselves  as  their  stronger  brothers 
do.  To  give  such  aid  it  is  necessary  not  only  to  possess 
the  right  kind  of  heart,  but  also  the  right  kind  of  head. 
Hardness  of  heart  is  a  dreadful  quality,  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether,  in  the  long  run,  it  works  more  damage  than 
softness  of  head.  At  any  rate,  both  are  undesirable. 
The  prerequisite  to  doing  good  work  in  the  field  of  phil 
anthropy — in  the  field  of  social  effort,  undertaken  with 


36  ADDRESSES 

one's  fellows  for  the  common  good — is  that  it  shall  be 
undertaken  in  a  spirit  of  broad  sanity  no  less  than  of 
broad  and  loving  charity. 

The  other  day  I  picked  up  a  little  book  called  The 
Simple  Life,  written  by  an  Alsatian,  Charles  Wagner, 
and  he  preaches  such  wholesome,  sound  doctrine  that  I 
wish  it  could  be  used  as  a  tract  throughout  our  country. 
To  him  the  whole  problem  of  our  complex,  somewhat 
feverish  modern  life  can  be  solved  only  by  getting  men 
and  women  to  lead  better  lives.  He  sees  that  the  per 
manence  of  liberty  and  democracy  depends  upon  a  major 
ity  of  the  people  being  steadfast  in  morality  and  in  that 
good  plain  sense  which  as  a  national  attribute  comes  only 
as  the  result  of  the  slow  and  painful  labor  of  centuries, 
and  which  can  be  squandered  in  a  generation  by  the 
thoughtlessness  and  vicious.  He  preaches  the  doctrine 
of  the  superiority  of  the  moral  to  the  material.  He  does 
not  undervalue  the  material,  but  he  insists,  as  we  of  this 
nation  should  always  insist,  upon  the  infinite  superiority 
of  the  moral,  and  the  sordid  destruction  which  comes 
upon  either  the  nation  or  the  individual  if  it  or  he  be 
comes  absorbed  only  in  the  desire  to  get  wealth.  The 
true  line  of  cleavage  lies  between  good  citizen  and  bad 
citizen ;  and  the  line  of  cleavage  may,  and  often  does,  run 
at  right  angles  to  that  which  divides  the  rich  and  the  poor. 
The  sinews  of  virtue  lie  in  man's  capacity  to  care  for  what 
is  outside  himself.  The  man  who  gives  himself  up  to  the 
service  of  his  appetites,  the  man  who  the  more  goods  he 
has  the  more  he  wants,  has  surrendered  himself  to  de 
struction.  It  makes  little  difference  whether  he  achieves 
his  purpose  or  not.  If  his  point  of  view  is  all  wrong,  he 
is  a  bad  citizen  whether  he  be  rich  or  poor.  It  is  a  small 
matter  to  the  community  whether  in  arrogance  and  inso 
lence  he  has  misused  great  wealth,  or  whether,  though 
poor,  he  is  possessed  by  the  mean  and  fierce  desire  to 
seize  a  morsel,  the  biggest  possible,  of  that  prey  which 


BANGOR  37 

the  fortunate  of  earth  consume.  The  man  who  lives 
simply,  and  justly,  and  honorably,  whether  rich  or  poor, 
is  a  good  citizen.  Those  who  dream  only  of  idleness  and 
pleasure,  who  hate  others,  and  fail  to  recognize  the  duty  of 
each  man  to  his  brother,  these,  be  they  rich  or  poor,  are 
the  enemies  of  the  State.  The  misuse  of  property  is  one 
manifestation  of  the  same  evil  spirit  which  under  changed 
circumstances  denies  the  right  of  property  because  this 
right  is  in  the  hands  of  others.  In  a  purely  material 
civilization  the  bitterness  of  attack  on  another's  posses 
sion  is  only  additional  proof  of  the  extraordinary  import 
ance  attached  to  possession  itself.  When  outward 
well-being,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  a  valuable 
foundation  on  which  happiness  may  with  wisdom  be  built, 
is  mistaken  for  happiness  itself,  so  that  material  prosper 
ity  becomes  the  one  standard,  then,  alike  by  those  who 
enjoy  such  prosperity  in  slothful  or  criminal  ease,  and  by 
those  who  in  no  less  evil  manner  rail  at,  envy,  and  long 
for  it,  poverty  is  held  to  be  shameful,  and  money,  whether 
well  or  ill  gotten,  to  stand  for  merit. 

All  this  does  not  mean  condemnation  of  progress.  It 
is  mere  folly  to  try  to  dig  up  the  dead  past,  and  scant 
is  the  good  that  comes  from  asceticism  and  retirement 
from  the  world.  But  let  us  make  sure  that  our  progress 
is  in  the  essentials  as  well  as  in  the  incidentals.  Material 
prosperity  without  the  moral  lift  toward  righteousness 
means  a  diminished  capacity  for  happiness  and  a  debased 
character.  The  worth  of  a  civilization  is  the  worth  of  the 
man  at  its  centre.  When  this  man  lacks  moral  rectitude, 
material  progress  only  makes  bad  worse,  and  social  prob 
lems  still  darker  and  more  complex. 


VI 

AT  FITCHBURG,  MASS.,  SEPTEMBER  2,  1902 

Mr.  Mayor,  and  you,  my  fellow-citizens  : 

There  are  two  or  three  things  that  I  should  like  to  say 
to  this  audience,  but  before  beginning  what  I  have  to  say 
on  some  of  the  problems  of  the  day,  I  wish  to  thank  for 
their  greeting,  not  only  all  of  you,  my  fellow-citizens  here, 
but  particularly  the  men  of  the  great  war,  and  second  only 
to  them  my  comrades  of  a  lesser  war,  where,  I  hope,  we 
showed  that  we  were  anxious  to  do  our  duty,  as  you  had 
done  yours,  only  the  need  did  not  come  to  us. 

We  have  great  problems  before  us  as  a  nation.  I  will 
not  try  to  discuss  them  at  length  with  you  to-day,  but  I 
can  speak  a  word  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  must  be 
met  if  they  are  to  be  met  successfully.  All  great  works, 
though  they  differ  in  the  method  of  doing  them,  must  be 
solved  by  substantially  the  same  qualities.  You  who  up 
held  the  arms  of  Lincoln,  who  followed  the  sword  of 
Grant,  were  able  to  do  your  duty  not  because  you  found 
some  patent  device  for  doing  it,  but  by  going  down  to 
the  bedrock  principles  which  had  made  good  soldiers 
since  the  world  began. 

There  was  no  method  possible  to  devise  which  would 
have  spared  you  from  heart-breaking  fatigue  on  the 
marches,  from  hardships  at  night,  from  danger  in  battle. 
The  only  way  to  overcome  those  difficulties  and  dangers 
was  by  drawing  on  every  ounce  of  hardihood,  of  courage, 
of  loyalty,  and  of  iron  resolution.  That  is  how  you  had 

38 


FITCH  BURG  39 

to  win  out.  You  had  to  win  as  the  soldiers  of  Washing 
ton  had  won  before  you,  as  we  of  the  younger  generation 
must  win  if  ever  the  call  should  be  made  upon  us  to  face 
a  serious  foe.  Arms  change,  tactics  change,  but  the 
spirit  that  makes  the  real  soldier  does  not  change.  The 
spirit  that  makes  for  victory  does  not  change. 

It  is  just  so  in  civic  life.  The  problems  change,  but 
fundamentally  the  qualities  needed  to  face  them  in  the 
average  citizen  are  the  same.  Our  new  and  highly  com 
plex  industrial  civilization  has  produced  a  new  and  com 
plicated  series  of  problems.  We  need  to  face  those  ^ 
problems  and  not  to  run  away  from  them.  We  need  to  / 
exercise  all  our  ingenuity  in  trying  to  devise  some  effect 
ive  solution,  but  the  only  way  in  which  that  solution  can 
be  applied  is  the  old  way  of  bringing  honesty,  courage, 
and  common-sense  to  bear  upon  it.  One  feature  of 
honesty  and  common-sense  combined  is  never  to  promise 
what  you  do  not  think  you  can  perform,  and  then  never 
to  fail  to  perform  what  you  have  promised.  And  that 
applies  to  public  life  just  as  much  as  in  private  life. 

If  some  of  those  who  have  seen  cause  for  wonder  in 
what  I  have  said  this  summer  on  the  subject  of  the  great 
corporations,  which  are  popularly,  although  with  technical 
inaccuracy,  known  as  trusts,  would  take  the  trouble  to 
read  my  messages  when  I  was  Governor,  what  I  said  on 
the  stump  two  years  ago,  and  what  I  put  into  my  first 
message  to  Congress,  I  think  they  would  have  been  less 
astonished.  I  said  nothing  on  the  stump  that  I  did  not 
think  I  could  make  good,  and  I  shall  not  hesitate  now  to 
take  the  position  which  I  then  advocated. 

I  am  even  more  anxious  that  you  who  hear  what  I  say 
should  think  of  it  than  that  you  should  applaud  it.  I  am 
not  going  to  try  to  define  with  technical  accuracy  what 
ought  to  be  meant  when  we  speak  of  a  trust.  But  if  by 
trust  we  mean  merely  a  big  corporation,  then  I  ask  you 
to  ponder  the  utter  folly  of  the  man  who  either  in  a  spirit 


40  ADDRESSES 

of  rancor  or  in  a  spirit  of  folly  says  "Destroy  the  trusts," 
without  giving  you  an  idea  of  what  he  means  really  to  do. 
I  will  go  with  him  gladly  if  he  says  "  Destroy  the  evil  in 
the  trusts."  I  will  try  to  find  out  that  evil,  I  will  seek  to 
apply  remedies,  which  I  have  already  outlined  in  other 
speeches.  But  if  his  policy,  from  whatever  motive, 
whether  hatred,  fear,  panic,  or  just  sheer  ignorance,  is 
to  destroy  the  trusts  in  a  way  that  will  destroy  all  our 
property — no.  Those  men  who  advocate  wild  and  foolish 
remedies  which  would  be  worse  than  the  disease,  are  doing 
all  in  their  power  to  perpetuate  the  evils  against  which 
they  nominally  war,  because,  if  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  naked  issue  of  either  keeping  or  totally  de 
stroying  a  prosperity  in  which  the  majority  share,  but  in 
which  some  share  improperly,  why,  as  sensible  men,  we 
must  decide  that  it  is  a  great  deal  better  that  some 
people  should  prosper  too  much  than  that  no  one  should 
prosper  enough.  So  that  the  man  who  advocates  destroy 
ing  the  trusts  by  measures  which  would  paralyze  the  in 
dustries  of  the  country  is  at  least  a  quack,  and  at  worst  an 
enemy  to  the  Republic. 

In  1893  there  was  no  trouble  about  anybody  making 
too  much  money.  The  trusts  were  down,  but  the  trouble 
was  that  we  were  all  of  us  down.  Nothing  but  harm  to 
the  whole  body  politic  can  come  from  ignorant  agitation, 
carried  on  partially  against  real  evils,  partially  against 
imaginary  evils,  but  in  a  spirit  which  would  substitute  for 
the  real  evils  evils  just  as  real  and  infinitely  greater. 
Those  men,  if  they  should  succeed,  could  do  nothing  to 
bring  about  a  solution  of  the  great  problems  with  which 
we  are  concerned.  If  they  could  destroy  certain  of  the 
evils  at  the  cost  of  overthrowing  the  well-being  of  the 
entire  country,  it  would  mean  merely  that  there  would 
come  a  reaction  in  which  they  and  their  remedies  would 
be  hopelessly  discredited. 

Now,  it  does  not  do  anybody  any  good,  and  it  will  do 


FITCH  BURG  41 

most  of  us  a  great  deal  of  harm,  to  take  steps  which  will 
check  any  proper  growth  in  a  corporation.  We  wish  not 
to  penalize  but  to  reward  a  great  captain  of  industry  or 
the  men  banded  together  in  a  corporation  who  have  the 
business  forethought  and  energy  necessary  to  build  up  a 
great  industrial  enterprise.  Keep  that  in  mind.  A  big 
corporation  may  be  doing  excellent  work  for  the  whole 
country,  and  you  want,  above  all  things,  when  striving 
to  get  a  plan  which  will  prevent  wrong-doing  by  a  cor 
poration  which  desires  to  do  wrong,  not  at  the  same  time 
to  have  a  scheme  which  will  interfere  with  a  corporation 
doing  well,  if  that  corporation  is  handling  itself  honestly 
and  squarely.  What  I  am  saying  ought  to  be  treated  as 
simple,  elementary  truths.  The  only  reason  it  is  neces 
sary  to  say  them  at  all  is  that  apparently  some  people 
forget  them. 

I  believe  something  can  be  done  by  national  legislation. 
When  I  state  that,  I  ask  you  to  note  my  words.  I  say  I 
believe.  It  is  not  in  my  power  to  say  I  know.  When 
I  talk  to  you  of  my  own  executive  duties,  I  can  tell  you 
definitely  what  will  and  what  will  not  be  done.  When  I 
speak  of  the  actions  of  any  one  else,  I  can  only  say  that 
I  believe  something  more  can  be  done  by  national  legisla 
tion.  I  believe  it  will  be  done.  I  think  we  can  get  laws 
which  will  increase  the  power  of  the  Federal  Government 
over  corporations ;  if  we  fail,  then  there  will  have  to  be  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  nation  conferring 
additional  power  upon  the  Federal  Government  to  deal 
with  corporations.  To  get  that  will  be  a  matter  of  diffi 
culty,  and  a  matter  of  time. 

Let  me  interrupt  here  by  way  of  illustration.  You  of 
the  great  war  recollect  that  about  six  weeks  after  Sumter 
had  been  fired  on  there  began  to  be  loud  clamor  in  the 
North  among  people  who  were  not  at  the  front,  that  you 
should  go  to  Richmond ;  and  there  were  any  number  of 
people  who  told  you  how  to  go  there.  Then  came  Bull 


42  ADDRESSES 

Run,  and  a  lot  of  those  same  people  who  a  fortnight  be 
fore  had  been  yelling  "On  to  Richmond  at  once,"  turned 
around  and  said  the  war  was  over.  All  the  hysteric 
brotherhood  said  so.  But  you  did  n't  think  so.  The 
war  was  not  over.  It  was  not  over  for  three  years  and 
nine  months,  and  then  it  was  over  the  other  way. 

And  you  got  it  over  by  setting  your  faces  steadily  to 
ward  the  goal,  by  not  relying  upon  anything  impossible, 
but  by  each  doing  everything  possible  that  came  in  his 
line  to  do,  by  each  man  doing  his  duty.  You  did  not 
win  by  any  patent  device ;  you  won  by  the  generalship 
of  Grant  and  Sherman  and  Thomas  and  Sheridan,  and, 
above  all,  by  the  soldiership  of  the  men  who  carried  the 
muskets  and  the  sabres.  It  did  not  come  as  quick  as  you 
wanted,  and  the  men  who  said  it  would  come  at  once  did 
not  help  you  much  either. 

In  dealing  with  any  great  problem  in  civil  life,  be  it  the 
trusts  or  anything  else,  you  are  going  to  get  along  in  just 
about  the  same  fashion.  There  is  not  any  patent  remedy 
for  all  the  ills.  All  we  can  do  is  to  make  up  our  minds 
definitely  that  we  intend  to  find  some  method  by  which 
we  shall  be  able  to  tell,  in  the  first  place,  what  are  the 
real  evils  and  what  of  the  alleged  evils  are  imaginary ;  in 
the  next  place,  what  of  those  real  evils  it  is  possible  to 
cure  by  legislation,  and  then  to  cure  them  by  legislation 
and  by  an  honest  administration  of  the  laws  after  they 
have  been  enacted.  That  statement  of  the  problem  will 
never  be  attractive  to  the  man  who  thinks  that  somehow, 
by  turning  your  hand,  you  are  going  to  get  a  complete 
solution  at  once. 

Grant's  plan  of  fighting  it  out  on  that  line,  if  it  took  all 
summer,  was  not  attractive  to  the  men  who  wanted  it 
done  in  a  week.  But  it  was  the  only  plan  that  won. 
The  only  way  we  can  ever  work  out  even  an  approxi 
mately  satisfactory  solution  of  these  great  industrial  prob 
lems,  of  which  this  so-called  problem  of  the  trusts  is  but 


FITCH  BURG  43 

one,  is  by  approaching  them  in  a  spirit  which  shall  com 
bine  equally  sanity  and  self-restraint  on  the  one  hand  and 
resolute  purpose  on  the  other. 

It  is  not  given  to  me  or  to  any  one  else  to  promise  a 
perfect  solution.  It  is  not  given  to  me  or  to  any  one  else 
to  promise  you  even  an  approximately  perfect  solution  in 
a  short  time.  But  I  think  that  we  can  work  out  a  very 
great  improvement  over  the  present  conditions,  and  the 
steps  taken  must,  I  am  sure,  be  along  these  lines — along 
the  lines,  in  the  first  place,  of  getting  power  somewhere 
so  that  we  shall  be  able  to  say,  the  nation  has  power,  let 
it  use  that  power — and  not  as  it  is  at  present,  where  it  is 
out  of  the  question  to  say  exactly  where  the  power  is. 

We  must  get  power  first,  then  use  that  power  fearlessly, 
but  with  moderation.  Let  me  say  that  again  —  with 
moderation,  with  sanity,  with  self-restraint.  The  mech 
anism  of  modern  business  is  altogether  too  delicate  and 
too  complicated  for  us  to  sanction  for  one  moment  any 
intermeddling  with  it  in  a  spirit  of  ignorance,  above  all 
in  a  spirit  of  rancor.  Something  can  be  done,  some 
thing  is  being  done  now.  Much  more  can  be  done  if 
our  people  resolutely  but  temperately  will  that  it  shall 
be  done.  But  the  certain  way  of  bringing  greatest  harm 
upon  ourselves,  without  in  any  way  furthering  the  solu 
tion  of  the  problem,  but,  on  the  contrary,  deferring  in 
definitely  its  proper  solution,  would  be  to  act  in  a  spirit 
of  ignorance,  of  violence,  of  rancor,  in  a  spirit  Which 
would  make  us  tear  down  the  temple  of  industry  in  which 
we  live  because  we  are  not  satisfied  with  some  of  the 
details  of  its  management. 

I  want  you  to  think  of  what  I  have  said,  because  it 
represents  all  of  the  sincerity  and  earnestness  that  I  have, 
and  I  say  to  you  here,  from  this  platform,  nothing  that 
I  have  not  already  stated  in  effect,  and  nothing  I  would 
not  say  at  a  private  table  with  any  of  the  biggest  corpora 
tion  managers  in  the  land. 


VII 


AT  WHEELING,  WEST  VIRGINIA,  SEPTEMBER  6, 

1902 

My  friends  and  fellow-citizens  : 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  come  here  to  your  city.  I  wish  to 
thank  the  Mayor,  and  through  the  Mayor  all  of  your  citi 
zens,  for  the  way  in  which,  upon  your  behalf,  he  has 
greeted  me ;  and  I  wish  to  state  that  it  is  a  special  pleas 
ure  to  be  introduced  by  my  friend,  Senator  Scott.  I 
have  known  the  Senator  for  some  time,  and  I  like  him, 
because  when  he  gives  you  his  word  you  don't  have  to 
think  about  it  again. 

I  am  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  saying  a  few  words 
here  in  this  great  industrial  centre  in  one  of  those  regions 
which  have  felt  to  a  notable  degree  the  effects  of  the 
period  of  prosperity  through  which  we  are  now  passing. 
Probably  never  before  in  our  history  has  the  country  been 
more  prosperous  than  it  is  at  this  moment;  and  it  is  a 
prosperity  which  has  come  alike  to  the  tillers  of  the  soil  and 
to  those  connected  with  our  great  industrial  enterprises. 

Every  period  has  its  own  troubles  and  difficulties.  A 
period  of  adversity,  of  course,  troubles  us  all;  but  there 
are  troubles  in  connection  with  a  period  of  prosperity 
also.  When  all  things  flourish  it  means  that  there  is  a 
good  chance  for  things  that  we  don't  like  to  flourish  also, 
just  exactly  as  for  things  that  we  do  like.  A  period  of  great 
national  material  well-being  is  inevitably  one  in  which 
men's  minds  are  turned  to  the  way  in  which  those  flourish 

44 


WHEELING,  WEST  VIRGINIA  45 

who  are  interested  in  the  management  of  the  gigantic 
capitalistic  corporations,  whose  growth  has  been  so  noted 
a  feature  of  the  last  half-century — the  corporations  which 
we  have  grown  to  speak  of  rather  loosely  as  trusts — ac 
cepting  the  word  in  its  usual  and  common  significance 
as  a  big  corporation  usually  doing  business  in  several 
States  at  least,  besides  the  State  in  which  it  is  incorpor 
ated,  and  often,  though  not  always,  with  some  element  of 
monopoly  in  it. 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  dealing  with  this  problem  of  the 
trusts  —  perhaps  it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  the 
group  of  problems  which  come  into  our  minds  when  we 
think  of  the  trusts — we  have  two  classes  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  whom  we  have  to  convert  or  override.  One  is 
composed  of  those  men  who  refuse  to  admit  that  there  is 
any  action  necessary  at  all.  The  other  is  composed  of 
those  men  who  advocate  some  action  so  extreme,  so  fool 
ish,  that  it  would  either  be  entirely  non-effective  or,  if 
effective,  would  be  so  only  by  destroying  everything, 
good  and  bad, connected  with  our  industrial  development. 

In  every  governmental  process  the  aim  that  a  people 
capable  of  self-government  should  steadfastly  keep  in 
mind  is  to  proceed  by  evolution  rather  than  revolution. 
On  the  other  hand,  every  people  fit  for  self-government 
must  beware  of  that  fossilization  of  mind  which  refuses  to 
allow  of  any  change  as  conditions  change.  Now,  in  deal 
ing  with  the  whole  problem  of  the  change  in  our  great 
industrial  civilization  —  in  dealing  with  the  tendencies 
which  have  been  accentuated  in  so  extraordinary  a  de 
gree  by  steam  and  electricity  and  by  the  tremendous  up 
building  of  industrial  centres  which  steam  and  electricity 
have  been  the  main  factors  in  bringing  about — I  think  we 
must  set  before  ourselves  the  desire  not  to  accept  less 
than  the  possible,  and  at  the  same  time  not  to  bring  our 
selves  to  a  complete  standstill  by  attempting  the  impos 
sible.  It  is  a  good  deal  as  it  is  in  taking  care,  through 


46  ADDRESSES 

the  engineers,  of  the  lower  Mississippi  River.  No  one 
can  dam  the  Mississippi.  If  the  nation  started  to  dam  it, 
the  nation  would  waste  its  time.  It  would  not  hurt  the 
Mississippi,  but  it  would  not  only  throw  away  its  own 
means,  but  would  incidentally  damage  the  population 
along  the  banks.  You  can't  dam  the  current.  You 
can  build  levees  to  keep  the  current  within  bounds  and 
to  shape  its  direction.  I  think  that  is  exactly  what 
we  can  do  in  connection  with  these  great  corporations 
known  as  trusts.  We  cannot  reverse  the  industrial  ten 
dency  of  the  age.  If  you  succeed  in  doing  it,  then  all 
cities  like  Wheeling  will  have  to  go  out  of  business.  Re 
member  that.  You  cannot  put  a  stop  to  or  reverse  the 
industrial  tendencies  of  the  age,  but  you  can  control  and 
regulate  them  and  see  that  they  do  no  harm. 

A  flood  comes  down  the  Mississippi — you  can't  stop  it. 
If  you  tried  to  build  a  dam  across  it,  it  would  not  hurt 
the  flood,  and  it  would  not  benefit  you.  You  can  guide 
it  between  levees  so  as  to  prevent  its  doing  injury,  and 
so  as  to  insure  its  doing  good.  Another  thing;  you  don't 
build  those  levees  in  a  day  or  in  a  month.  A  man  who 
told  you  that  he  had  a  patent  device  by  which  in  sixty 
days  he  would  solve  the  whole  question  of  the  floods 
along  the  lower  Mississippi  would  not  be  a  wise  man ;  but 
he  would  be  a  perfect  miracle  of  wisdom  compared  to 
the  man  who  tells  you  that  by  any  one  patent  remedy 
he  can  bring  the  millennium  in  our  industrial  and  social 
affairs. 

We  can  do  something ;  I  believe  we  can  do  a  good  deal, 
but  our  accomplishing  what  I  expect  to  see  accomplished 
is  conditioned  upon  our  setting  to  work  in  a  spirit  as  far 
removed  as  possible  from  hysteria  —  a  spirit  of  sober, 
steadfast,  kindly — I  want  to  emphasize  that — kindly  de 
termination  not  to  submit  to  wrong  ourselves  and  not  to 
wrong  others,  not  to  interfere  with  the  great  business 
development  of  the  country,  and  at  the  same  time  so  to 


WHEELING,   WEST  VIRGINIA  47 

shape  our  legislation  and  administration  as  to  minimize, 
if  we  cannot  eradicate,  the  unpleasant  and  vicious  fea 
tures  connected  with  that  industrial  development.  I 
have  said  that  there  can  be  no  patent  remedy.  There 
is  not  any  one  thing  which  can  be  done  to  remove  all  of 
the  existing  evils.  There  are  a  good  many  things  which, 
if  we  do  them  all,  will,  I  believe,  make  a  very  appreciable 
betterment  in  the  existing  conditions.  To  do  that  is  not 
to  make  a  promise  that  will  evoke  wild  enthusiasm,  but  a 
promise  that  can  be  kept ;  and  in  the  long  run  it  is  much 
more  comfortable  only  to  make  promises  that  can  be  kept 
than  to  make  promises  which  are  sure  of  an  immense  re 
ception  when  made,  but  which  entail  intolerable  humilia 
tion  when  it  is  attempted  to  carry  them  out. 

I  am  sufficiently  fortunate  to  be  advocating  now,  as 
President,  precisely  the  remedies  that  I  advocated  two 
years  ago — advocating  them  not  in  any  partisan  spirit, 
because,  gentlemen,  this  problem  is  one  which  affects  the 
life  of  the  nation  as  a  whole — but  advocating  them  simply 
as  the  American  citizen  who,  for  the  time  being,  stands 
as  the  Chief  Executive  and,  therefore,  the  special  repre 
sentative  of  his  fellow-American  citizens  of  all  parties. 

A  century  and  a  quarter  ago  there  had  been  no  de 
velopment  of  industry  such  as  to  make  it  a  matter  of  the 
least  importance  whether  the  Nation  or  the  State  had 
charge  of  the  great  corporations  or  supervised  the  great 
business  and  industrial  organizations.  A  century  and  a 
quarter  ago,  here  at  Wheeling,  commerce  was  carried  on 
by  pack  train,  by  wagon  train,  by  boat.  That  was  the 
way  it  was  carried  on  throughout  the  whole  civilized 
world  —  oars  and  sails,  wheeled  vehicles  and  beasts  of 
burden — those  were  the  means  of  carrying  on  commerce 
at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  this  country 
became  a  nation. 

vThere  had  been  no  radical  change,  no  essential  change, 
in  the  means  of  carrying  on  commerce  from  the  days  when 


48  ADDRESSES 

the  Phoenician  galleys  ploughed  the  waters  of  the  Medi 
terranean.  For  four  or  five  thousand  years,  perhaps 
longer,  from  the  immemorial  past  when  Babylon  and 
Nineveh  stood  in  Mesopotamia,  when  Thebes  and  Mem 
phis  were  mighty  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile — from  that 
time  on  through  the  supremacy  of  Greece  and  of  Rome, 
through  the  upbuilding  of  the  great  trading  cities  like 
Venice  and  Genoa  in  Italy,  like  the  cities  of  the  Rhine 
and  the  Netherlands  in  Northern  Europe — on  through 
the  period  of  the  great  expansion  of  European  civiliza 
tion  which  followed  the  voyages  of  Columbus  and  Vasco 
da  Gama,  down  to  the  time  when  this  country  became  a 
nation — the  means  of  commercial  intercourse  remained 
substantially  unchanged.  Those  means,  therefore,  lim 
ited  narrowly  what  could  be  done  by  any  corporation, 
the  growth  that  could  take  place  in  any  community.1 

Suddenly,  during  our  own  lifetime  as  a  nation — a  life 
time  trivial  in  duration  compared  to  the  period  of  recorded 
history — there  came  a  revolution  in  the  means  of  inter 
course  which  made  a  change  in  commerce,  and  in  all  that 
springs  from  commerce,  in  industrial  development,  greater 
than  all  the  changes  of  the  preceding  thousands  of  years. 
A  greater  change  in  the  means  of  commerce  of  mankind 
has  taken  place  since  Wheeling  was  founded,  since  the 
first  settlers  built  their  log  huts  in  the  great  forests  on  the 
banks  of  this  river,  than  in  all  the  previous  period  during 
which  man  had  led  an  existence  that  can  be  called  civilized. 

Through  the  railway,  the  electric  telegraph,  and  other 
developments,  steam  and  electricity  worked  a  complete 
revolution.  This  has  meant,  of  course,  that  entirely  new 
problems  have  sprung  up.  You  have  right  in  this  imme 
diate  neighborhood  a  very  much  larger  population  than 
any  similar  region  in  all  the  United  States  held  when  the 
Continental  Congress  began  its  sessions;  and  the  change 
in  industrial  conditions  has  been  literally  immeasurable. 
Those  changed  conditions  need  a  corresponding  change  in 


WHEELING,   WEST  VIRGINIA  49 

the  governmental  agencies  necessary  for  their  regulation 
and  supervision. 

Such  agencies  were  not  provided,  and  could  not  have 
been  provided,  in  default  of  a  knowledge  of  prophecy  by 
the  men  who  founded  the  Republic.  In  those  days  each 
State  could  take  care  perfectly  well  of  any  corporations 
within  its  limits,  and  all  it  had  to  do  was  to  try  to  encour 
age  their  upbuilding.  Now  the  big  corporations,  although 
nominally  the  creatures  of  one  State,  usually  do  business 
in  other  States,  and  in  a  very  large  number  of  cases  the 
wide  variety  of  State  laws  on  the  subject  of  corporations 
has  brought  about  the  fact  that  the  corporation  is  made 
in  one  State,  but  does  almost  all  its  work  in  entirely  dif 
ferent  States. 

It  has  proved  utterly  impossible  to  get  anything  like 
uniformity  of  legislation  among  the  States.  Some  States 
have  passed  laws  about  corporations  which,  if  they  had 
not  been  ineffective,  would  have  totally  prevented  any 
important  corporate  work  being  done  within  their  limits. 
Other  States  have  such  lax  laws  that  there  is  no  effective 
effort  made  to  control  any  of  the  abuses.  As  a  result  we 
have  a  system  of  divided  control — where  the  nation  has 
something  to  say,  but  it  is  a  little  difficult  to  know  exactly 
how  much,  and  where  the  different  States  have  each 
something  to  say,  but  where  there  is  no  supreme  power 
that  can  speak  with  authority.  It  is,  of  course,  a  mere 
truism  to  say  that  every  corporation,  the  smallest  as  well 
as  the  largest,  is  the  creature  of  the  State.  Where  the 
corporation  is  small  there  is  very  little  need  of  exercising 
much  supervision  over  it,  but  the  stupendous  corporations 
of  the  present  day  certainly  should  be  under  govern 
mental  supervision  and  regulation.  The  first  effort  to 
make  is  to  give  somebody  the  power  to  exercise  that 
supervision,  that  regulation.  We  have  already  laws  on 
the  statute  books.  Those  laws  will  be  enforced,  and 
are  being  enforced,  with  all  the  power  of  the  National 


50  ADDRESSES 

Government,  and  wholly  without  regard  to  persons.  But 
the  power  is  very  limited.  Now  I  want  you  to  take  my 
words  at  their  exact  value.  I  think — I  cannot  say  I  am 
sure,  because  it  has  often  happened  in  the  past  that  Con 
gress  has  passed  a  law  with  a  given  purpose  in  view,  and 
when  that  law  has  been  judicially  interpreted  it  has 
proved  that  the  purpose  was  not  achieved — but  I  think 
that  by  legislation  additional  power  in  the  way  of  regu 
lation  of  at  least  a  number  of  these  great  corporations 
can  be  conferred.  But,  gentlemen,  I  firmly  believe  that 
in  the  end  power  must  be  given  to  the  National  Govern 
ment  to  exercise  in  full  supervision  and  regulation  of  these 
great  enterprises ;  and  if  necessary  a  constitutional  amend 
ment  must  be  resorted  to  for  this  purpose. 

That  is  not  new  doctrine  for  me.  That  is  the  doctrine 
that  I  advocated  on  the  stump  two  years  ago.  Some  of 
my  ultra-conservative  friends  have  professed  to  be  greatly 
shocked  at  my  advocating  it  now.  I  would  explain  to 
those  gentlemen,  once  for  all,  that  they  err  whenever  they 
think  that  I  advocate  on  the  stump  anything  that  I  will 
not  try  to  put  into  effect  after  election.  The  objection 
is  made  that  working  along  these  lines  will  take  time.  So 
it  will.  Let  me  go  back  to  my  illustration  of  the  Missis 
sippi  River.  It  took  time  to  build  the  levees,  but  we 
built  them.  And  if  we  have  the  proper  intelligence,  the 
proper  resolution,  and  the  proper  self-restraint,  we  can 
work  out  the  solution  along  the  lines  that  I  have  indi 
cated.  Thus,  the  first  thing  is  to  give  the  National  Gov 
ernment  the  power.  All  the  power  that  is  given,  I  can 
assure  you,  will  be  used  in  a  spirit  as  free  as  possible  from 
rancor  of  any  kind,  but  with  the  firmest  determination  to 
make  big  man  and  little  man  alike  obey  the  law. 

What  we  need  first  is  power.  Having  gotten  the  power, 
remember  the  work  won't  be  ended — it  will  be  only  fairly 
begun.  And  let  me  say  again  and  again  and  again  that 
you  will  not  get  the  millennium — the  millennium  is  some 


WHEELING,   WEST  VIRGINIA  51 

way  off  yet.  But  you  will  be  in  a  position  to  make  a  long 
stride  in  advance  in  the  direction  of  securing  a  juster, 
fairer,  wiser  management  of  many  of  these  corporations, 
both  as  regards  the  general  public  and  as  regards  their 
relationship  among  themselves  and  to  the  investing  pub 
lic.  When  we  have  the  power  I  most  earnestly  hope,  and 
should  most  earnestly  advocate,  that  it  be  used  with  the 
greatest  wisdom  and  self-restraint. 

The  first  thing  to  do  would  be  to  find  out  the  facts. 
For  that  purpose  I  am  absolutely  clear  that  we  need  pub 
licity — that  we  need  it  not  as  a  matter  of  favor  from  any 
one  corporation,  but  as  a  matter  of  right,  secured  through 
the  agents  of  the  Government,  from  all  the  corporations 
concerned.  The  mere  fact  of  the  publicity  itself  will  tend 
to  stop  many  of  the  evils,  and  it  will  show  that  some 
other  alleged  evils  are  imaginary,  and  finally  in  making 
evident  the  remaining  evils — those  that  are  not  imaginary 
and  that  are  not  cured  by  the  simple  light  of  day — it  will 
give  us  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  methods  to  take 
in  getting  at  them.  We  should  have,  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  one  sovereign  to  whom  the  big  corporations 
should  be  responsible  —  a  sovereign  in  whose  courts  a 
corporation  could  be  held  accountable  for  any  failure  to 
comply  with  the  laws  of  the  legislature  of  that  sovereign. 
I  do  not  think  you  can  accomplish  that  among  the  forty- 
six  sovereigns  of  the  States.  I  think  that  it  will  have  to 
be  through  the  National  Government. 


VIII 

TO  THE  BROTHERHOOD  OF  LOCOMOTIVE  FIRE- 

MEN,  CHATTANOOGA,  TENN.,  SEPTEMBER 

8,  1902 

Mr.  Grand  Master,  Governor  McMillin,  Mr.  Mayor,  my 
brothers,  "men  and  women  of  Tennessee,  my  fellow- 
citizens  : 

I  am  glad  to  be  here  to-day.  I  am  glad  to  come  as  the 
guest  of  the  Brotherhood.  Let  me  join  with  you,  the 
members  of  the  Brotherhood  of  this  country,  in  extend 
ing  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  our  fellows  from  Canada 
and  Mexico.  The  fact  that  we  are  good  Americans  only 
makes  us  all  the  better  men,  all  the  more  desirous  of  see 
ing  good  fortune  to  all  mankind.  I  needed  no  pressing 
to  accept  the  invitation  tendered  through  you,  Mr.  Han- 
nahan,  and  through  Mr.  Arnold,  to  come  to  this  meeting. 
I  have  always  admired  greatly  the  railroad  men  of  the 
country,  and  I  do  not  see  how  any  one  who  believes  in  what 
I  regard  as  the  fundamental  virtues  of  citizenship  can  fail  to 
do  so.  I  want  to  see  the  average  American  a  good  man, 
an  honest  man,  and  a  man  who  can  handle  himself,  and 
does  handle  himself,  well  under  difficulties.  The  last  time 
I  ever  saw  General  Sherman,  I  dined  at  his  house,  and  we 
got  to  talking  over  the  capacity  of  different  types  of  sol 
diers,  and  the  General  happened  to  say  that  if  ever  there 
were  another  war,  and  he  were  to  have  a  command,  he 
should  endeavor  to  get  as  many  railway  men  as  possible 
under  him.  I  asked  him  why,  and  he  said :  "Because  on 

52 


CHATTANOOGA  53 

account  of  their  profession  they  have  developed  certain 
qualities  which  are  essential  in  a  soldier."  In  the  first 
place,  they  are  accustomed  to  taking  risks.  There  are  a 
great  many  men  who  are  naturally  brave,  but  who,  being 
entirely  unaccustomed  to  risks,  are  at  first  appalled  by 
them.  Railroad  men  are  accustomed  to  enduring  hard 
ship;  they  are  accustomed  to  irregular  hours;  they  are 
accustomed  to  act  on  their  own  responsibility,  on  their 
own  initiative,  and  yet  they  are  acccustomed  to  obey 
ing  orders  quick.  There  is  not  anything  more  soul-har 
rowing  for  a  man  in  time  of  war,  or  for  a  man  engaged  in 
a  difficult  job  in  time  of  peace,  than  to  give  an  order  and 
have  the  gentleman  addressed  say  "What?"  The  rail 
road  man  has  to  learn  that  when  an  order  is  issued  there 
may  be  but  a  fraction  of  a  second  in  which  to  obey  it. 
He  has  to  learn  that  orders  are  to  be  obeyed,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  there  will  come  plenty  of  crises  in  which 
there  will  be  no  orders  to  be  obeyed,  and  he  will  have  to 
act  for  himself. 

Those  are  all  qualities  that  go  to  the  very  essence  of 
good  soldiership,  and  I  am  not  surprised  at  what  General 
Sherman  said.  In  raising  my  own  regiment,  which  was 
raised  mainly  in  the  Southwest,  partly  in  the  Territory  in 
which  Mr.  Sargent  himself  served  as  a  soldier  at  one  time 
— in  Arizona, — I  got  a  number  of  railroad  men.  Of  course, 
the  first  requisite  was  that  a  man  should  know  how  to 
shoot  and  how  to  ride.  We  were  raising  the  regiment  in 
a  hurry,  and  we  did  not  have  time  to  teach  him,  either. 
He  had  to  know  how  to  handle  a  horse  and  how  to  handle 
a  rifle,  to  start  with.  But  given  the  possession  of  those 
two  qualities,  I  found  that  there  was  no  group  of  our  citi 
zens  from  whom  better  men  could  be  drawn  to  do  a 
soldier's  work  in  a  tight  place  and  at  all  times  than  the 
railroad  men. 

But,  gentlemen,  the  period  of  war  is  but  a  fractional 
part  of  the  life  of  our  Republic,  and  I  earnestly  hope  and 


54  ADDRESSES 

believe  that  it  will  be  an  even  smaller  part  in  the  future 
than  it  has  been  in  the  past.  It  was  the  work  that  you 
have  done  in  time  of  peace  that  especially  attracted  me 
to  you,  that  made  me  anxious  to  come  down  here  and  see 
you,  and  that  made  me  glad  to  speak  to  you,  not  for 
what  I  can  tell  you,  but  for  the  lesson  it  seems  to  me 
can  be  gained  by  all  of  our  people  from  what  you  have 
done. 

At  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century  we  face  condi 
tions  vastly  changed  from  what  they  were  in  this  country 
and  throughout  the  world  a  century  ago.  Our  complex 
industrial  civilization  under  which  progress  has  been  so 
rapid,  and  in  which  the  changes  for  good  have  been  so 
great,  has  also  inevitably  seen  the  growth  of  certain  ten 
dencies  that  are  not  for  good,  or  at  least  that  are  not 
wholly  for  good ;  and  we  in  consequence,  as  a  people, 
like  the  rest  of  civilized  mankind,  find  set  before  us  for 
solution  during  the  coming  century  problems  which  need 
the  best  thought  of  all  of  us,  and  the  most  earnest  desire 
of  all  to  solve  them  well  if  we  expect  to  work  out  a  solu 
tion  satisfactory  to  our  people,  a  solution  for  the  advan 
tage  of  the  nation.  In  facing  these  problems,  it  must  be 
a  comfort  to  every  well-wisher  of  the  nation  to  see  what 
has  been  done  by  your  organization.  I  believe  emphati 
cally  in  organized  labor.  I  believe  in  organizations  of 
wage-workers.  Organization  is  one  of  the  laws  of  our 
social  and  economic  development  at  this  time.  But  I 
feel  that  we  must  always  keep  before  our  minds  the  fact 
that  there  is  nothing  sacred  in  the  name  itself.  To  call 
an  organization  an  organization  does  not  make  it  a  good 
one.  The  worth  of  an  organization  depends  upon  its 
being  handled  with  the  courage,  the  skill,  the  wisdom, 
the  spirit  of  fair  dealing  as  between  man  and  man,  and 
the  wise  self-restraint  which,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say, 
your  Brotherhood  has  shown.  You  now  number  close 
upon  44,000  members.  During  the  two  years  ending 


CHATTANOOGA  55 

June  3pth  last  you  paid  in  to  the  general  and  beneficiary 
funds  close  upon  a  million  and  a  half  dollars.  More  than 
six  and  one-half  millions  have  been  paid  in  since  the  start 
ing  of  the  insurance  clause  in  the  Constitution — have  been 
paid  to  disabled  members  and  their  beneficiaries.  Over 
fifty  per  cent,  of  the  amount  paid  was  paid  on  account  of 
accidents.  Gentlemen,  that  is  a  sufficient  commentary 
upon  the  kind  of  profession  which  is  yours.  You  face 
death  and  danger  in  time  of  peace,  as  in  time  of  war  the 
men  wearing  Uncle  Sam's  uniform  must  face  them. 

Your  work  is  hard.  Do  you  suppose  I  mention  that  be 
cause  I  pity  you?  No;  not  a  bit.  I  don't  pity  a.ny  man 
who  does  hard  work  worth  doing.  I  admire  him.  I  pity 
the  creature  who  does  n't  work,  at  whichever  end  of  the 
social  scale  he  may  regard  himself  as  being.  The  law 
of  worthy  work  well  done  is  the  law  of  successful  Ameri 
can  life.  I  believe  in  play,  too — play,  and  play  hard  while 
you  play;  but  don't  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  that 
that  is  the  main  thing.  The  work  is  what  counts,  and  if 
a  man  does  his  work  well  and  it  is  worth  doing,  then  it 
matters  but  little  in  which  line  that  work  is  done;  the 
man  is  a  good  American  citizen.  If  he  does  his  work  in 
slipshod  fashion,  then  no  matter  what  kind  of  work  it  is, 
he  is  a  poor  American  citizen. 

I  speak  to  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen, 
but  what  I  say  applies  to  all  railroad  men — not  only  to 
the  engineers  who  have  served  an  apprenticeship  as  fire 
men,  to  the  conductors,  who,  as  a  rule,  have  served  an 
apprenticeship  as  brakemen,  but  to  all  the  men  of  all  the 
organizations  connected  with  railroad  work.  I  know  you 
do  not  grudge  my  saying  that,  through  you,  I  am  talking 
to  all  the  railroad  men  of  the  country.  You,  in  your 
organization  as  railroad  men,  have  taught  two  lessons: 
the  lesson  of  how  much  can  be  accomplished  by  organiza 
tion,  by  mutual  self-help  of  the  type  that  helps  another 
in  the  only  way  by  which,  in  the  long  run,  a  man  who  is 


56  ADDRESSES 

a  full-grown  man  really  can  be  helped — that  is,  by  teach 
ing  him  to  help  himself.  You  teach  the  benefits  of 
organization,  and  you  also  teach  the  indispensable  need 
of  keeping  absolutely  unimpaired  the  faculty  of  individ 
ual  initiative,  the  faculty  by  which  each  man  brings  him 
self  to  the  highest  point  of  perfection  by  exercising  the 
special  qualities  with  which  he  is  himself  endowed.  The 
Brotherhood  has  developed  to  this  enormous  extent  since 
the  days,  now  many  years  ago,  when  the  first  little  band 
came  together;  and  it  has  developed,  not  by  crushing  out 
individual  initiative,  but  by  developing  it,  by  combining 
many  individual  initiatives. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Firemen  does  much  for  all  firemen, 
but  I  firmly  believe  that  the  individual  fireman,  since  the 
growth  of  the  Brotherhood  has  been  more,  not  less, 
efficient  than  he  was  twenty  years  ago.  Membership  in 
the  Brotherhood  comes,  as  I  understand  it,  after  a  nine 
months'  probationary  period;  after  a  man  has  shown  his 
worth,  he  is  then  admitted  and  stands  on  his  footing  as  a 
brother.  Now,  any  man  who  enters  with  the  purpose  of 
letting  the  Brotherhood  carry  him  is  not  worth  much. 
The  man  who  counts  in  the  Brotherhood  is  the  man 
who  pulls  his  own  weight  and  a  little  more.  Much  can 
be  done  by  the  Brotherhood.  I  have  just  hinted,  in  the 
general  figures  I  gave  you,  at  how  much  has  been  done, 
but  it  still  remains  true  in  the  Brotherhood,  and  every 
where  else  throughout  American  life,  that  in  the  last 
resort  nothing  can  supply  the  place  of  the  man's  own 
individual  qualities.  We  need  those,  no  matter  how  per 
fect  the  organization  is  outside.  There  is  just  as  much 
need  of  nerve,  hardihood,  power  to  face  risks  and  accept 
responsibilities,  in  the  engineer  and  the  fireman,  whether 
on  a  flyer  or  a  freight  train,  now  as  there  ever  was. 
Much  can  be  done  by  the  Association.  A  great  deal  can 
be  accomplished  by  working  each  for  all  and  all  for  each ; 
but  we  must  not  forget  that  the  first  requisite  in  accom- 


CHATTANOOGA  57 

plishing  that  is  that  each  man  should  work  for  others  by 
working  for  himself,  by  developing  his  own  capacity. 

The  steady  way  in  which  a  man  can  rise  is  illustrated 
by  a  little  thing  that  happened  yesterday.  I  came  down 
here  over  the  Queen  and  Crescent  Railroad,  and  the  Gen 
eral  Manager,  who  handled  my  train  and  who  handled 
yours,  was  Mr.  Maguire.  I  used  to  know  him  in  the  old 
days  when  he  was  on  his  way  up,  and  he  began  right  at 
the  bottom.  He  was  a  fireman  at  one  time.  He  worked 
his  way  straight  up,  and  now  he  is  General  Manager. 

I  believe  so  emphatically  in  your  organization  because, 
while  it  teaches  the  need  of  working  in  union,  of  working 
in  association,  of  working  with  deep  in  our  hearts,  not 
merely  on  our  lips,  the  sense  of  Brotherhood,  yet  of 
necessity  it  still  keeps,  as  your  organization  always  must 
keep,  to  the  forefront  the  worth  of  the  individual  quali 
ties  of  a  man.  I  said  to  you  that  I  came  here  in  a  sense 
not  to  speak  to  you,  but  to  use  your  experience  as  an 
object-lesson  for  all  of  us,  an  object-lesson  in  good  Ameri 
can  citizenship.  All  professions,  of  course,  do  not  call 
for  the  exercise  to  the  same  degree  of  the  qualities  of 
which  I  have  spoken.  Your  profession  is  one  of  those 
which  I  am  inclined  to  feel  play  in  modern  life  a  greater 
part  from  the  standpoint  of  character  than  we  entirely 
realize.  There  is  in  modern  life,  with  the  growth  of 
civilization  and  luxury,  a  certain  tendency  to  softening 
of  the  national  fibre.  There  is  a  certain  tendency  to  for 
get,  in  consequence  of  their  disuse,  the  rugged  virtues 
which  lie  at  the  back  of  manhood ;  and  I  feel  that  profes 
sions  like  yours,  like  the  profession  of  the  railroad  men  of 
the  country,  have  a  tonic  effect  upon  the  whole  body 
politic. 

It  is  a  good  thing  that  there  should  be  a  large  body  of 
our  fellow-citizens — that  there  should  be  a  profession — 
whose  members  must,  year  in  and  year  out,  display 
those  old,  old  qualities  of  courage,  daring,  resolution, 


58  ADDRESSES 

unflinching  willingness  to  meet  danger  at  need.  I  hope 
to  see  all  our  people  develop  the  softer,  gentler  virtues 
to  an  ever-increasing  degree,  but  I  hope  never  to  see 
them  lose  the  sterner  virtues  that  make  men  men. 

A  man  is  not  going  to  be  a  fireman  or  an  engineer,  or 
serve  well  in  any  other  capacity  on  a  railroad  long  if  he 
has  a  "streak  of  yellow"  in  him.  You  are  going  to  find 
it  out,  and  he  is  going  to  be  painfully  conscious  of  it, 
very  soon.  It  is  a  fine  thing  for  our  people  that  we  should 
have  those  qualities  in  evidence  before  us  in  the  life-work 
of  a  big  group  of  our  citizens. 

In  American  citizenship,  we  can  succeed  permanently 
only  upon  the  basis  of  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
working  in  association,  by  organization,  each  working  for 
all,  and  yet  remembering  that  we  need  each  so  to  shape 
things  that  each  man  can  develop  to  best  advantage  all 
the  forces  and  powers  at  his  command.  In  your  organi 
zation  you  accomplish  much  by  means  of  the  Brother 
hood,  but  you  accomplish  it  because  of  the  men  who 
go  to  make  up  that  brotherhood. 

If  you  had  exactly  the  organization,  exactly  the  laws, 
exactly  the  system,  and  yet  were  yourselves  a  poor  set 
of  men,  the  system  would  not  save  you.  I  will  guarantee 
that,  from  time  to  time,  you  have  men  go  in  to  try  to 
serve  for  the  nine  months  who  prove  that  they  do  not 
have  the  stuff  in  them  out  of  which  you  can  make  good 
men.  You  have  to  have  the  stuff  in  you,  and,  if  you  have 
the  stuff,  you  can  make  out  of  it  a  much  finer  man  by 
means  of  the  association — but  you  must  have  the  material 
out  of  which  to  make  it.  So  it  is  in  citizenship. 

And  now  let  me  say  a  word,  speaking  not  merely  espe 
cially  to  the  Brotherhood,  but  to  all  our  citizens.  Gover 
nor  McMillin,  Mr.  Mayor :  I  fail  to  see  how  any  American 
can  come  to  Chattanooga  and  go  over  the  great  battle 
fields  in  the  neighborhood — the  battle-fields  here  in  this 
State  and  just  across  the  border  in  my  mother's  State  of 


CHATTANOOGA  59 

Georgia — how  any  American  can  come  here  and  see  evi 
dences  of  the  mighty  deeds  done  by  the  men  who  wore 
the  blue  and  the  men  who  wore  the  gray,  and  not  go  away 
a  better  American,  prouder  of  the  country,  prouder  be 
cause  of  the  valor  displayed  on  both  sides  in  the  contest 
— the  valor,  the  self-devotion,  the  loyalty  to  the  right  as 
each  side  saw  the  right.  Yesterday  I  was  presented  with 
a  cane  cut  from  the  Chickamauga  battle-field  by  some 
young  men  of  northern  Georgia.  On  the  cane  were 
engraved  the  names  of  three  Union  generals  and  three 
Confederate  generals.  One  of  those  Union  generals  was 
at  that  time  showing  me  over  the  battle-field — General 
Boynton.  Under  one  of  the  Confederate  generals — Gen 
eral  Wheeler  —  I  myself  served.  In  my  regiment  there 
served  under  me  in  the  ranks  a  son  of  General  Hood, 
who  commanded  at  one  time  the  Confederate  army  against 
General  Sherman.  The  only  captain  whom  I  had  the 
opportunity  of  promoting  to  field  rank,  and  to  whom  this 
promotion  was  given  for  gallantry  on  the  field,  was  Micah 
Jenkins,  of  South  Carolina,  the  son  of  a  Confederate 
general,  whose  name  you  will  find  recorded  among  those 
who  fought  at  Chickamauga. 

Two  of  my  captains  were  killed  at  Santiago :  one  was 
Allyn  Capron,  the  fifth  in  line  who,  from  father  to  son, 
had  served  in  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States,  who 
had  served  in  every  war  in  which  our  country  had  been 
engaged;  the  other,  Bucky  O'Neill.  His  father  had 
fought  under  Meagher,  when,  on  the  day  at  Fredericks- 
burg,  his  brigade  left  more  men  under  the  stone  wall  than 
did  any  other  brigade.  I  had  in  my  regiment  men  from  the 
North  and  the  South ;  men  from  the  East  and  the  West ; 
men  whose  fathers  had  fought  under  Grant,  and  whose 
fathers  had  fought  under  Lee;  college  graduates,  capital 
ists'  sons,  wage  workers,  the  man  of  means  and  the  man 
who  all  his  life  had  owed  each  day's  bread  to  the  day's  toil. 
I  had  Catholic,  Protestant,  Jew,  and  Gentile  under  me. 


60  ADDRESSES 

Among  my  captains  were  men  whose  forefathers  had  been 
among  the  first  white  men  to  settle  on  Massachusetts  Bay 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  James,  and  others  whose  parents 
had  come  from  Germany,  from  Ireland,  from  England, 
from  France.  They  were  all  Americans,  and  nothing 
else,  and  each  man  stood  on  his  worth  as  a  man,  to  be 
judged  by  it,  and  to  succeed  or  fail  accordingly  as  he  did 
well  or  ill.  Compared  to  the  giant  death-wrestles  that 
reeled  over  the  mountains  round  about  this  city  the  fight 
at  Santiago  was  the  merest  skirmish;  but  the  spirit  in 
which  we  handled  ourselves  there,  I  hope,  was  the  spirit  in 
which  we  have  to  face  our  duties  as  citizens  if  we  are  to 
make  this  Republic  what  it  must  be  made. 

Yesterday,  in  passing  over  the  Chickamauga  battle 
field,  I  was  immensely  struck  by  the  monument  raised  by 
Kentucky  to  the  Union  and  Confederate  soldiers  from 
Kentucky  who  fell  on  that  battle-field.  The  inscription 
reads  as  follows:  "As  we  are  united  in  life,  and  they 
united  in  death,  let  one  monument  perpetuate  their 
deeds,  and  one  people,  forgetful  of  all  asperities,  forever 
hold  in  grateful  remembrance  all  the  glories  of  that  ter 
rible  conflict  which  made  all  men  free  and  retained  every 
star  on  the  nation's  flag."  That  is  a  good  sentiment. 
That  is  a  sentiment  by  which  we  can  all  stand.  And  oh, 
my  friends !  what  does  that  sentiment  have  as  its  under 
lying  spirit?  The  spirit  of  brotherhood  ! 

I  firmly  believe  in  my  countrymen,  and  therefore  I  be 
lieve  that  the  chief  thing  necessary  in  order  that  they  shall 
work  together  is  that  they  shall  know  one  another — that 
the  Northerner  shall  know  the  Southerner,  and  the  man 
of  one  occupation  know  the  man  of  another  occupation ; 
the  man  who  works  in  one  walk  of  life  know  the  man  who 
works  in  another  walk  of  life,  so  that  we  may  realize  that 
the  things  which  divide  us  are  superficial,  are  unimportant, 
and  that  we  are,  and  must  ever  be,  knit  together  into  one 
indissoluble  mass  by  our  common  American  brotherhood. 


IX 


AT  MUSIC  HALL,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO,  ON  THE 
EVENING  OF  SEPTEMBER  20,   1902 

Mr.  Mayor,  and  you,  my  fellow- Americans : 

I  shall  ask  your  attention  to  what  I  say  to-night,  be 
cause  I  intend  to  make  a  perfectly  serious  argument  to 
you,  and  I  shall  be  obliged  if  you  will  remain  as  still  as 
possible ;  and  I  ask  that  those  at  the  very  back  will  re 
member  that  if  they  talk  or  make  a  noise  it  interferes 
with  the  hearing  of  the  rest.  I  intend  to  speak  to  you 
on  a  serious  subject  and  to  make  an  argument  as  the 
Chief  Executive  of  a  nation,  who  is  the  President  of  all 
the  people,  without  regard  to  party,  without  regard  to 
section.  I  intend  to  make  to  you  an  argument  from  the 
standpoint  simply  of  one  American  talking  to  his  fellow- 
Americans  upon  one  of  the  great  subjects  of  interest  to 
all  alike;  and  that  subject  is  what  are  commonly  known 
as  the  trusts.  The  word  is  used  very  loosely  and  almost 
always  with  technical  inaccuracy.  The  average  man, 
however,  when  he  speaks  of  the  trusts  means  rather 
vaguely  all  of  the  very  big  corporations,  the  growth  of 
which  has  been  so  signal  a  feature  of  our  modern  civiliza 
tion,  and  especially  those  big  corporations  which,  though 
organized  in  one  State,  do  business  in  several  States,  and 
often  have  a  tendency  to  monopoly. 

The  whole  subject  of  the  trusts  is  of  vital  concern  to  us, 
because  it  presents  one,  and  perhaps  the  most  conspicu 
ous,  of  the  many  problems  forced  upon  our  attention  by 

61 


62  ADDRESSES 

the  tremendous  industrial  development  which  has  taken 
place  during  the  last  century,  a  development  which  is 
occurring  in  all  civilized  countries,  notably  in  our  own. 
There  have  been  many  factors  responsible  for  bringing 
about  these  changed  conditions.  Of  these,  steam  and 
electricity  are  the  chief.  The  extraordinary  changes  in 
the  methods  of  transportation  of  merchandise  and  of 
transmission  of  news  have  rendered  not  only  possible,  but 
inevitable,  the  immense  increase  in  the  rate  of  growth  of 
our  great  industrial  centres — that  is,  of  our  great  cities. 
I  want  you  to  bring  home  to  yourselves  that  fact.  When 
Cincinnati  was  founded,  news  could  be  transmitted  and 
merchandise  carried  exactly  as  had  been  the  case  in  the 
days  of  the  Roman  Empire.  You  had  here  on  your  river 
the  flatboat,  you  had  on  the  ocean  the  sailing-ship,  you 
had  the  pack-train,  you  had  the  wagon,  and  every  one  of 
the  four  was  known  when  Babylon  fell.  The  change  in  the 
last  hundred  years  has  been  greater  by  far  than  the  changes 
in  all  the  preceding  three  thousand.  Those  are  the  facts. 
Because  of  them  have  resulted  the  specialization  of  indus 
tries,  and  the  unexampled  opportunities  offered  for  the 
employment  of  huge  amounts  of  capital,  and  therefore 
for  the  rise  in  the  business  world  of  those  master  minds 
through  whom  alone  it  is  possible  for  such  vast  amounts 
of  capital  to  be  employed  with  profit.  It  matters  very 
little  whether  we  like  these  new  conditions  or  whether 
we  dislike  them;  whether  we  like  the  creation  of 
these  new  opportunities  or  not.  Many  admirable  quali 
ties  which  were  developed  in  the  older,  simpler,  less  pro 
gressive  life,  have  tended  to  atrophy  under  our  rather 
feverish,  high-pressure,  complex  life  of  to-day.  But  our 
likes  and  dislikes  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 
The  new  conditions  are  here.  You  can't  bring  back  the 
old  days  of  the  canal-boat  and  stage-coach  if  you  wish. 
The  steamboat  and  the  railroad  are  here.  The  new  forces 
have  produced  both  good  and  evil.  We  cannot  get  rid 


CINCINNA  TI  63 

of  them — even  if  it  were  not  undesirable  to  get  rid  of 
them ;  and  our  instant  duty  is  to  try  to  accommodate 
our  social,  economic,  and  legislative  life  to  them,  and  to 
frame  a  system  of  law  and  conduct  under  which  we  shall 
get  out  of  them  the  utmost  possible  benefit  and  the  least 
possible  amount  of  harm.  It  is  foolish  to  pride  ourselves 
upon  our  progress  and  prosperity,  upon  our  commanding 
position  in  the  international  industrial  world,  and  at  the 
same  time  have  nothing  but  denunciation  for  the  men  to 
whose  commanding  position  we  in  part  owe  this  very 
progress  and  prosperity,  this  commanding  position. 

Whenever  great  social  or  industrial  changes  take  place, 
no  matter  how  much  good  there  may  be  to  them,  there 
is  sure  to  be  some  evil,  and  it  usually  takes  mankind  a 
number  of  years  and  a  good  deal  of  experimenting  before 
they  find  the  right  ways  in  which,  so  far  as  possible,  to 
control  the  new  evil,  without  at  the  same  time  nullifying 
the  new  good.  I  am  stating  facts  so  obvious  that  if  each 
one  of  you  will  think  them  over,  you  will  think  them 
trite,  but  if  you  read  or  listen  to  some  of  the  arguments 
advanced,  you  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
need  of  learning  these  trite  truths.  In  these  circum 
stances  the  effort  to  bring  the  new  tendencies  to  a  stand 
still  is  always  futile  and  generally  mischievous;  but  it  is 
possible  somewhat  to  develop  them  aright.  Law  can  to 
a  degree  guide,  protect,  and  control  industrial  develop 
ment,  but  it  can  never  cause  it,  or  play  more  than  a  sub 
ordinate  part  in  its  healthy  development — unfortunately 
it  is  easy  enough  by  bad  laws  to  bring  it  to  an  almost 
complete  stop. 

In  dealing  with  the  big  corporations  which  we  call 
trusts,  we  must  resolutely  purpose  to  proceed  by  evolu 
tion  and  not  revolution.  We  wish  to  face  the  facts,  de 
clining  to  have  our  vision  blinded  either  by  the  folly  of 
those  who  say  there  are  no  evils,  or  by  the  more  danger 
ous  folly  of  those  who  either  see,  or  make  believe  that 


64  ADDRESSES 

they  see,  nothing  but  evil  in  all  the  existing  system,  and 
who  if  given  their  way  would  destroy  the  evil  by  the. 
simple  process  of  bringing  ruin  and  disaster  to  the  entire 
country.  The  evils  attendant  upon  over-capitalization 
alone  are,  in  my  judgment,  sufficient  to  warrant  a  far 
closer  supervision  and  control  than  now  exist  over  the 
great  corporations.  Wherever  a  substantial  monopoly  can 
be  shown  to  exist,  we  should  certainly  try  our  utmost 
to  devise  an  expedient  by  which  it  can  be  controlled. 
Doubtless  some  of  the  evils  existing  in  or  because  of  the 
great  corporations,  cannot  be  cured  by  any  legislation 
which  has  yet  been  proposed,  and  doubtless  others,  which 
have  really  been  incident  to  the  sudden  development  in 
the  formation  of  corporations  of  all  kinds,  will  in  the 
end  cure  themselves.  But  there  will  remain  a  certain 
number  which  can  be  cured  if  we  decide  that  by  the 
power  of  the  Government  they  are  to  be  cured.  The 
surest  way  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  curing  any  of 
them  is  to  approach  the  subject  in  a  spirit  of  violent  ran 
cor,  complicated  with  total  ignorance  of  business  interests, 
and  fundamental  incapacity  or  unwillingness  to  under 
stand  the  limitations  upon  all  law-making  bodies.  No 
problem,  and  least  of  all  so  difficult  a  problem  as  this, 
can  be  solved  if  the  qualities  brought  to  its  solution  are 
panic,  fear,  envy,  hatred,  and  ignorance.  There  can 
exist  in  a  free  republic  no  man  more  wicked,  no  man 
more  dangerous  to  the  people,  than  he  who  would 
arouse  these  feelings  in  the  hope  that  they  would  re 
dound  to  his  own  political  advantage.  Corporations 
that  are  handled  honestly  and  fairly,  so  far  from  being 
an  evil,  are  a  natural  business  evolution  and  make 
for  the  general  prosperity  of  our  land.  We  do  not  wish 
to  destroy  corporations,  but  we  do  wish  to  make  them 
subserve  the  public  good.  All  individuals,  rich  or  poor, 
private  or  corporate,  must  be  subject  to  the  law  of  the 
land ;  and  the  Government  will  hold  them  to  a  rig>d  obedi- 


CINCINNA  77  65 

ence  thereof.  The  biggest  corporation,  like  the  humblest 
private  citizen,  must  be  held  to  strict  compliance  with  the 
will  of  the  people  as  expressed  in  the  fundamental  law. 
The  rich  man  who  does  not  see  that  this  is  in  his  interest 
is,  indeed,  short-sighted.  When  we  make  him  obey  the 
law  we  insure  for  him  the  absolute  protection  of  the  law. 

The  savings  banks  show  what  can  be  done  in  the  way 
of  genuinely  beneficent  work  by  large  corporations  when 
intelligently  administered  and  supervised.  They  now 
hold  over  twenty-six  hundred  millions  of  the  people's 
money  and  pay  annually  about  one  hundred  millions  of 
interest  or  profit  to  their  depositors.  There  is  no  talk  of 
danger  from  these  corporations;  yet  they  possess  great 
power,  holding  over  three  times  the  amount  of  our  pres 
ent  national  debt;  more  than  all  the  currency,  gold, 
silver,  greenbacks,  etc.,  in  circulation  in  the  United 
States.  The  chief  reason  for  there  being  no  talk  of  dan 
ger  from  them  is  that  they  are,  on  the  whole,  faithfully 
administered  for  the  benefit  of  all,  under  wise  laws  which 
require  frequent  and  full  publication  of  their  condition, 
and  which  prescribe  certain  needful  regulations  with  which 
they  have  to  comply,  while  at  the  same  time  giving  full 
scope  for  the  business  enterprise  of  their  managers  within 
these  limits. 

Now,  of  course,  savings  banks  are  as  highly  specialized 
a  class  of  corporations  as  railroads,  and  we  cannot  force 
too  far  the  analogy  with  other  corporations ;  but  there 
are  certain  conditions  which  I  think  we  can  lay  down  as 
indispensable  to  the  proper  treatment  of  all  corporations 
which  from  their  size  have  become  important  factors  in 
the  social  development  of  the  community. 

Before  speaking,  however,  of  what  can  be  done  by  way 
of  remedy,  let  me  say  a  word  or  two  as  to  certain  proposed 
remedies  which,  in  my  judgment,  would  be  ineffective  or 
mischievous.  The  first  thing  to  remember  is  that  if  we 
are  to  accomplish  any  good  at  all  it  must  be  by  resolutely 


66  ADDRESSES 

keeping  in  mind  the  intention  to  do  away  with  any  evils 
in  the  conduct  of  big  corporations,  while  steadfastly  re 
fusing  to  assent  to  indiscriminate  assault  upon  all  forms 
of  corporate  capital  as  such.  The  line  of  demarcation  we 
draw  must  always  be  on  conduct,  not  upon  wealth ;  our 
objection  to  any  given  corporation  must  be,  not  that  it  is 
big,  but  that  it  behaves  badly.  Perfectly  simple  again, 
my  friends,  but  not  always  heeded  by  some  of  those  who 
would  strive  to  teach  us  how  to  act  toward  big  corpora 
tions.  Treat  the  head  of  the  corporation  as  you  would 
treat  all  other  men.  If  he  does  well  stand  by  him.  You 
will  occasionally  find  the  head  of  a  big  corporation  who 
objects  to  that  treatment;  very  good,  apply  it  all  the 
more  carefully.  Remember,  after  all,  that  he  who  ob 
jects  because  he  is  the  head  of  a  big  corporation  to  being 
treated  like  any  one  else  is  only  guilty  of  the  same  sin  as 
the  man  who  wishes  him  treated  worse  than  any  one  else 
because  he  is  the  head  of  a  big  corporation.  Demagogic 
denunciation  of  wealth  is  never  wholesome  and  generally 
dangerous;  and  not  a  few  of  the  proposed  methods  of 
curbing  the  trusts  are  dangerous  chiefly  because  all  in 
sincere  advocacy  of  the  impossible  is  dangerous.  It  is 
an  unhealthy  thing  for  a  community  when  the  appeal  is 
made  to  follow  a  course  which  those  who  make  the  ap 
peal  either  do  know  or  ought  to  know  cannot  be  fol 
lowed  ;  and  which  if  followed  would  result  in  disaster  to 
everybody.  Loose  talk  about  destroying  monopoly  out 
of  hand,  without  a  hint  as  to  how  the  monopoly  should 
even  be  defined,  offers  a  case  in  point. 

Nor  can  we  afford  to  tolerate  any  proposal  which  will 
strike  at  the  so-called  trusts  only  by  striking  at  the  general 
well-being.  We  are  now  enjoying  a  period  of  great  pros 
perity.  The  prosperity  is  generally  diffused  through  all 
sections  and  through  all  classes.  Doubtless  there  are  some 
individuals  who  do  not  get  enough  of  it,  and  there  are 
others  who  get  too  much.  That  is  simply  another  way  of 


CINCINNA  77  67 

saying  that  the  wisdom  of  mankind  is  finite ;  and  that  even 
the  best  human  system  does  not  work  perfectly.  You  don't 
have  to  take  my  word  for  that.  Look  back  just  nine  years. 
In  1893  nobody  was  concerned  in  downing  the  trusts. 
Everybody  was  concerned  in  trying  to  get  up  himself. 
The  men  who  propose  to  get  rid  of  the  evils  of  the  trusts 
by  measures  which  would  do  away  with  the  general  well- 
being,  advocate  a  policy  which  would  not  only  be  a  dam 
age  to  the  community  as  a  whole,  but  which  would  defeat 
its  own  professed  object.  If  we  are  forced  to  the  alter 
native  of  choosing  either  a  system  under  which  most  of 
us  prosper  somewhat,  though  a  few  of  us  prosper  too 
much,  or  else  a  system  under  which  no  one  prospers 
enough,  of  course  we  will  choose  the  former.  If  the 
policy  advocated  is  so  revolutionary  and  destructive  as 
to  involve  the  whole  community  in  the  crash  of  common 
disaster,  it  is  as  certain  as  anything  can  be  that  when  the 
disaster  has  occurred  all  efforts  to  regulate  the  trusts  will 
cease,  and  that  the  one  aim  will  be  to  restore  prosperity. 
A  remedy  much  advocated  at  the  moment  is  to  take 
off  the  tariff  from  all  articles  which  are  made  by  trusts. 
To  do  this  it  will  be  necessary  first  to  define  trusts.  The 
language  commonly  used  by  the  advocates  of  the  method 
implies  that  they  mean  all  articles  made  by  large  corpora 
tions,  and  that  the  changes  in  tariff  are  to  be  made  with 
punitive  intent  towards  these  large  corporations.  Of 
course,  if  the  tariff  is  to  be  changed  in  order  to  punish 
them,  it  should  be  changed  so  as  to  punish  those  that  do 
ill,  not  merely  those  that  are  prosperous.  It  would  be 
neither  just  nor  expedient  to  punish  the  big  corporations 
as  big  corporations;  what  we  wish  to  do  is  to  protect  the 
people  from  any  evil  that  may  grow  out  of  their  existence 
or  mal-administration.  Some  of  those  corporations  do 
well  and  others  do  ill.  If  in  any  case  the  tariff  is  found 
to  foster  a  monopoly  which  does  ill,  of  course  no  pro 
tectionist  would  object  to  a  modification  of  the  tariff 


68  ADDRESSES 

sufficient  to  remedy  the  evil.  But  in  very  few  cases  does 
the  so-called  trust  really  monopolize  the  market.  Take 
any  very  big  corporation — I  could  mention  them  by  the 
score — which  controls  say  something  in  the  neighborhood 
of  half  of  the  products  of  a  given  industry.  It  is  the  kind 
of  corporation  that  is  always  spoken  of  as  a  trust.  Surely, 
in  rearranging  the  schedules  affecting  such  a  corporation 
it  would  be  necessary  to  consider  the  interests  of  its 
smaller  competitors  which  control  the  remaining  part,  and 
which,  being  weaker,  would  suffer  most  from  any  tariff 
designed  to  punish  all  the  producers ;  for,  of  course,  the 
tariff  must  be  made  light  or  heavy  for  big  and  little  pro 
ducers  alike.  Moreover,  such  a  corporation  necessarily 
employs  very  many  thousands,  often  very  many  tens  of 
thousands  of  workmen,  and  the  minute  we  proceeded 
from  denunciation  to  action  it  would  be  necessary  to  con 
sider  the  interests  of  these  workmen.  Furthermore,  the 
products  of  many  trusts  are  unprotected,  and  would  be 
entirely  unaffected  by  any  change  in  the  tariff,  or  at  most 
very  slightly  so.  The  Standard  Oil  Company  offers  a 
case  in  point;  and  the  corporations  which  control  the 
anthracite  coal  output  offer  another — for  there  is  no  duty 
whatever  on  anthracite  coal. 

I  am  not  now  discussing  the  question  of  the  tariff 
as  such;  whether  from  the  standpoint  of  the  funda 
mental  difference  between  those  who  believe  in  a  pro 
tective  tariff  and  those  who  believe  in  free  trade;  or 
from  the  standpoint  of  those  who,  while  they  believe 
in  a  protective  tariff,  feel  that  there  could  be  a  rear 
rangement  of  our  schedules,  either  by  direct  legislation 
or  by  reciprocity  treaties,  which  would  result  in  enlarg 
ing  our  markets ;  nor  yet  from  the  standpoint  of  those 
who  feel  that  stability  of  economic  policy  is  at  the  moment 
our  prime  economic  need,  and  that  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  any  change  in  schedules  would  not  com 
pensate  for  the  damage  to  business  caused  by  the  wide- 


C INC  INN  A  77  69 

spread  agitation  which  would  follow  any  attempted  general 
revision  of  the  tariff  at  this  moment.  Without  regard  to 
the  wisdom  of  any  one  of  those  three  positions,  it  remains 
true  that  the  real  evils  connected  with  the  trusts  cannot 
be  remedied  by  any  change  in  the  tariff  laws.  The  trusts 
can  be  damaged  by  depriving  them  of  the  benefits  of  a 
protective  tariff,  only  on  condition  of  damaging  all  their 
smaller  competitors,  and  all  the  wage  workers  employed 
in  the  industry.  This  point  is  very  important,  and  it  is 
desirable  to  avoid  any  misunderstanding  concerning  it. 
I  am  not  now  considering  whether  or  not,  on  grounds 
totally  unconnected  with  the  trusts,  it  would  be  well 
to  lower  the  duties  on  various  schedules,  either  by  direct 
legislation,  or  by  legislation  or  treaties  designed  to  secure 
as  an  offset  reciprocal  advantages  from  the  nations 
with  which  we  trade.  My  point  is  that  changes  in  the 
tariff  would  have  little  appreciable  effect  on  the  trusts  save 
as  they  shared  in  the  general  harm  or  good  proceeding 
from  such  changes.  No  tariff  change  would  help  one  of 
our  smaller  corporations,  or  one  of  our  private  individuals 
in  business,  still  less  one  of  our  wage  workers,  as  against 
a  large  corporation  in  the  same  business ;  on  the  contrary, 
if  it  bore  heavily  on  the  large  corporation,  it  would  inevita 
bly  be  felt  still  more  by  that  corporation's  weaker  rivals, 
while  any  injurious  result  would  of  necessity  be  shared  by 
both  the  employer  and  the  employed  in  the  business  con 
cerned.  The  immediate  introduction  of  substantial  free 
trade  in  all  articles  manufactured  by  trusts,  that  is,  by  the 
largest  and  most  successful  corporations,  would  not  affect 
some  of  the  most  powerful  of  our  business  combinations 
in  the  least,  save  by  the  damage  done  to  the  general  busi 
ness  welfare  of  the  country ;  others  would  undoubtedly 
be  seriously  affected,  but  much  less  so  than  their  weaker 
rivals,  while  the  loss  would  be  divided  between  the  capi 
talists  and  the  laborers ;  and  after  the  years  of  panic  and 
distress  had  been  lived  through,  and  some  return  to 


7o  ADDRESSES 

prosperity  had  occurred,  even  though  all  were  on  a  lower 
plane  of  prosperity  than  before,  the  relative  difference  be 
tween  the  trusts  and  their  rivals  would  remain  as  marked 
as  ever.  In  other  words,  the  trust,  or  big  corporation, 
would  have  suffered  relatively  to,  and  in  the  interest  of, 
its  foreign  competitor;  but  its  relative  position  towards 
its  American  competitors  would  probably  be  improved ; 
little  would  have  been  done  towards  cutting  out  or  mini 
mizing  the  evils  in  the  trusts ;  nothing  towards  securing 
adequate  control  and  regulation  of  the  large  modern  cor 
porations.  In  other  words,  the  question  of  regulating 
the  trusts  with  a  view  to  minimizing  or  abolishing  the 
evils  existent  in  them,  is  separate  and  apart  from  the 
question  of  tariff  revision. 

You  must  face  the  fact  that  only  harm  will  come  from 
a  proposition  to  attack  the  so-called  trusts  in  a  vindictive 
spirit  by  measures  conceived  solely  with  a  desire  of  hurt 
ing  them,  without  regard  as  to  whether  or  not  discrimina 
tion  should  be  made  between  the  good  and  evil  in  them, 
and  without  even  any  regard  as  to  whether  a  necessary 
sequence  of  the  action  would  be  the  hurting  of  other 
interests.  The  adoption  of  such  a  policy  would  mean 
temporary  damage  to  the  trusts,  because  it  would  mean 
temporary  damage  to  all  of  our  business  interests;  but 
the  effect  would  be  only  temporary,  for  exactly  as  the 
damage  affected  all  alike,  good  and  bad,  so  the  reaction 
would  affect  all  alike,  good  and  bad.  The  necessary 
supervision  and  control  in  which  I  firmly  believe  as  the 
only  method  of  eliminating  the  real  evils  of  the  trusts 
must  come  through  wisely  and  cautiously  framed  legisla 
tion  which  shall  aim,  in  the  first  place,  to  give  definite 
control  to  some  sovereign  over  the  great  corporations, 
and  which  shall  be  followed,  when  once  this  power  has 
been  conferred,  by  a  system  giving  to  the  Government 
the  full  knowledge  which  is  the  essential  for  satisfactory 
action.  Then  when  this  knowledge — one  of  the  essential 


CINCINNATI  71 

features  of  which  is  proper  publicity — has  been  gained, 
what  further  steps  of  any  kind  are  necessary  can  be  taken 
with  the  confidence  born  of  the  possession  of  power  to 
deal  with  the  subject,  and  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
what  should  and  can  be  done  in  the  matter. 

We  need  additional  power;  and  we  need  knowledge. 
Our  Constitution  was  framed  when  the  economic  con 
ditions  were  so  different  that  each  State  could  wisely  be 
left  to  handle  the  corporations  within  its  limits  as  it  saw 
fit.  Nowadays  all  the  corporations  which  I  am  considering 
do  what  is  really  an  interstate  business,  and  as  the  States 
have  proceeded  on  very  different  lines  in  regulating  them, 
at  present  a  corporation  will  be  organized  in  one  State,  not 
because  it  intends  to  do  business  in  that  State,  but  because 
it  does  not,  and  therefore  that  State  can  give  it  better 
privileges,  and  then  it  will  do  business  in  some  other 
States,  and  will  claim  not  to  be  under  the  control  of  the 
States  in  which  it  does  business;  and  of  course  it  is  not 
the  object  of  the  State  creating  it  to  exercise  any  control 
over  it,  as  it  does  not  do  any  business  in  that  State. 
Such  a  system  cannot  obtain.  There  must  be  some  sove 
reign.  It  might  be  better  if  all  the  States  could  agree 
along  the  same  lines  in  dealing  with  these  corporations, 
but  I  see  not  the  slightest  prospect  of  such  an  agreement. 
Therefore  I  personally  feel  that  ultimately  the  nation  will 
have  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  regulating  these  very 
large  corporations  which  do  an  interstate  business.  The 
States  must  combine  to  meet  the  way  in  which  capital 
has  combined  ;  and  the  way  in  which  the  States  can  com 
bine  is  through  the  National  Government.  But  I  firmly 
believe  that  all  these  obstacles  can  be  met  if  only  we  face 
them,  both  with  the  determination  to  overcome  them, 
and  with  the  further  determination  to  overcome  them  in 
ways  which  shall  not  do  damage  to  the  country  as  a 
whole ;  which,  on  the  contrary,  shall  further  our  industrial 
development,  and  shall  help  instead  of  hindering  all 


72  ADDRESSES 

corporations  which  work  out  their  success  by  means  that 
are  just  and  fair  towards  all  men. 

Without  the  adoption  of  a  constitutional  amendment 
my  belief  is  that  a  good  deal  can  be  done  by  law.  It  is 
difficult  to  say  exactly  how  much,  because  experience  has 
taught  us  that  in  dealing  with  these  subjects  where  the 
lines  dividing  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  States  and  of 
the  nation  are  in  doubt  it  has  sometimes  been  difficult 
for  Congress  to  forecast  the  action  of  the  courts  upon  its 
legislation.  Such  legislation  (whether  obtainable  now, 
or  obtainable  only  after  a  constitutional  amendment) 
should  provide  for  a  reasonable  supervision,  the  most 
prominent  feature  of  which  at  first  should  be  publicity ; 
that  is,  the  making  public  both  to  the  governmental 
authorities  and  to  the  people  at  large  the  essential  facts 
in  which  the  public  is  concerned.  This  would  give  us 
exact  knowledge  of  many  points  which  are  now  not  only 
in  doubt  but  the  subject  of  fierce  controversy.  More 
over,  the  mere  fact  of  the  publication  would  cure  some 
very  grave  evils,  for  the  light  of  day  is  a  deterrent  to 
wrong-doing.  It  would  doubtless  disclose  other  evils 
with  which  for  the  time  being  we  could  devise  no  way  to 
grapple.  Finally,  it  would  disclose  others  which  could 
be  grappled  with  and  cured  by  further  legislative  action. 

Remember,  I  advocate  the  action  which  the  President 
can  only  advise,  and  which  he  has  no  power  himself  to 
take.  Under  our  present  legislative  and  constitutional 
limitations,  the  national  executive  can  work  only  between 
narrow  lines  in  the  field  of  action  concerning  great  corpo 
rations.  Between  those  lines,  I  assure  you  that  exact 
and  even-handed  justice  will  be  dealt,  and  is  being  dealt, 
to  all  men,  without  regard  to  persons. 

I  wish  to  repeat  with  all  emphasis  that,  desirable  though 
it  is  that  the  nation  should  have  the  power  I  suggest,  it  is 
equally  desirable  that  it  should  be  used  with  wisdom  and 
self-restraint.  The  mechanism  of  modern  business  is 


CINCINNA  77  73 

tremendous  in  its  size  and  complexity,  and  ignorant  in 
termeddling  with  it  would  be  disastrous.  We  should 
not  be  made  timid  or  daunted  by  the  size  of  the  problem  ; 
we  should  not  fear  to  undertake  it ;  but  we  should  under 
take  it  with  ever  present  in  our  minds  dread  of  the  sinister 
spirits  of  rancor,  ignorance,  and  vanity.  We  need  to 
keep  steadily  in  mind  the  fact  that  besides  the  tangible 
property  in  each  corporation  there  lies  behind  the  spirit 
which  brings  it  success,  and  in  the  case  of  each  very  suc 
cessful  corporation  this  is  usually  the  spirit  of  some  one 
man  or  set  of  men.  Under  exactly  similar  conditions 
one  corporation  will  make  a  stupendous  success  where 
another  makes  a  stupendous  failure,  simply  because  one 
is  well  managed  and  the  other  is  not.  While  making  it 
clear  that  we  do  not  intend  to  allow  wrong-doing  by  one 
of  the  captains  of  industry  any  more  than  by  the  humblest 
private  in  the  industrial  ranks,  we  must  also  in  the  in 
terests  of  all  of  us  avoid  cramping  a  strength  which,  if 
beneficently  used,  will  be  for  the  good  of  all  of  us.  The 
marvellous  prosperity  we  have  been  enjoying  for  the  past 
few  years  has  been  due  primarily  to  the  high  average  of 
honesty,  thrift,  and  business  capacity  among  our  people 
as  a  whole ;  but  some  of  it  has  also  been  due  to  the  ability 
of  the  men  who  are  the  industrial  leaders  of  the  nation. 
In  securing  just  and  fair  dealing  by  these  men  let  us  re 
member  to  do  them  justice  in  return,  and  this  not  only 
because  it  is  our  duty,  but  because  it  is  our  interest;  not 
only  for  their  sakes,  but  for  ours.  We  are  neither  the 
friend  of  the  rich  man  as  such  nor  the  friend  of  the  poor 
man  as  such;  we  are  the  friend  of  the  honest  man,  rich  or 
poor;  and  we  intend  that  all  men,  rich  and  poor  alike, 
shall  obey  the  law  alike  and  receive  its  protection  alike. 


X 

AT  LOGANSPORT,  INDIANA,  SEPTEMBER  23,  1902 

Fellow-citizens  : 

I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  take  what  I  say  at  its  exact 
face  value,  as  I  like  whatever  I  say  to  be  taken.  It  is 
suggested  by  coming  to  this  great  Western  State  and 
speaking  to  one  of  its  thriving  cities.  We  believe  that 
the  American  business  man  is  of  a  peculiar  type;  and 
probably  the  qualities  of  energy,  daring,  and  resourceful 
ness  which  have  given  him  his  prominence  in  the  inter 
national  industrial  world  find  their  highest  development 
here  in  the  West.  It  is  the  merest  truism  to  say  that  in 
the  modern  world  industrialism  is  the  great  factor  in  the 
growth  of  nations.  Material  prosperity  is  the  foundation 
upon  which  every  mighty  national  structure  must  be 
built.  Of  course  there  must  be  more  than  this.  There 
must  be  a  high  moral  purpose,  a  life  of  the  spirit  which 
finds  its  expression  in  many  different  ways;  but  unless 
material  prosperity  exists  also  there  is  scant  room  in 
which  to  develop  the  higher  life.  The  productive  activity 
of  our  vast  army  of  workers,  of  those  who  work  with 
head  or  hands,  is  the  prime  cause  of  the  giant  growth  of 
this  nation.  We  have  great  natural  resources,  but  such 
resources  are  never  more  than  opportunities,  and  they 
count  for  nothing  if  the  men  in  possession  have  not  the 
power  to  take  advantage  of  them.  You  have  built  up  in 
the  West  these  cities  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the 
Great  Lakes,  as  all  the  region  round  about  them  has  been 

74 


LOGANSPORT  75 

built  up — that  is,  because  you  had  the  qualities  of  heart 
and  brain,  the  qualities  of  moral  and  physical  fibre,  which 
enabled  you  to  use  to  the  utmost  advantage  whatever 
you  found  ready  to  your  hands.  You  win  not  by  shirking 
difficulties,  but  by  facing  and  overcoming  them. 

In  such  development  laws  play  a  certain  part,  but  indi 
vidual  characteristics  a  stili  greater  part.  A  great  and 
successful  commonwealth  like  ours  in  the  long  run  works 
under  good  laws,  because  a  people  endowed  with  honest 
and  practical  common-sense  ultimately  demands  good 
laws.  But  no  law  can  create  industrial  well-being,  al 
though  it  may  foster  and  safeguard  it,  and  although  a  bad 
law  may  destroy  it.  The  prime  factor  in  securing  indus 
trial  well-being  is  the  high  average  of  citizenship  found  in 
the  community.  The  best  laws  that  the  wit  of  man  can 
devise  would  not  make  a  community  of  thriftless  and 
idle  men  prosperous.  No  scheme  of  legislation  or  of 
social  reform  will  ever  work  good  to  the  community 
unless  it  recognizes  as  fundamental  the  fact  that  each 
man's  own  individual  qualities  must  be  the  prime  factors 
in  his  success.  Work  in  combination  may  help  and  the 
State  can  do  a  good  deal  in  its  own  sphere,  but  in  the 
long  run  each  man  must  rise  or  fall  on  his  own  merits ; 
each  man  must  owe  his  success  in  life  to  whatever  of 
hardihood,  of  resolution,  of  common-sense,  and  of  ca 
pacity  for  lofty  endeavor  he  has  within  his  own  soul.  It 
is  a  good  thing  to  act  in  combination  for  the  common 
good,  but  it  is  a  very  unhealthy  thing  to  let  ourselves 
think  for  one  moment  that  anything  can  ever  supply  the 
want  of  our  own  individual  watchfulness  and  exertion. 

Yet  given  this  high  average  of  individual  ability  and 
invention,  we  must  ever  keep  in  mind  that  it  may  be 
nullified  by  bad  legislation,  and  that  it  can  be  given  a 
chance  to  develop  under  the  most  favorable  conditions 
by  good  legislation.  Probably  the  most  important  aid 
which  can  be  contributed  by  the  National  Government  to 


76  ADDRESSES 

the  material  well-being  of  the  country  is  to  insure  its 
financial  stability.  An  honest  currency  is  the  strongest 
symbol  and  expression  of  honest  business  life.  The  busi 
ness  world  must  exist  largely  on  credit,  and  to  credit  con 
fidence  is  essential.  Any  tampering  with  the  currency, 
no  matter  with  what  purpose,  if  fraught  with  the  suspicion 
of  dishonesty  in  result,  is  fatal  in  its  effects  on  business 
prosperity.  Very  ignorant  and  primitive  communities 
are  continually  obliged  to  learn  the  elementary  truth  that 
the  repudiation  of  debts  is  in  the  end  ruinous  to  the 
debtors  as  a  class ;  and  when  communities  have  moved 
somewhat  higher  in  the  scale  of  civilization  they  also 
learn  that  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  debased  currency 
works  similar  damage.  A  financial  system  of  assured 
honesty  is  the  first  essential. 

Another  essential  for  any  community  is  perseverance  in 
the  economic  policy  which  for  a  course  of  years  is  found 
best  fitted  to  its  peculiar  needs.  The  question  of  combin 
ing  such  fixedness  of  economic  policy  as  regards  the  tariff, 
while  at  the  same  time  allowing  for  a  necessary  and  proper 
readjustment  of  duties  in  particular  schedules,  as  such 
readjustment  becomes  a  matter  of  pressing  importance, 
is  not  an  easy  one.  It  is,  perhaps,  too  much  to  expect 
that  from  the  discussion  of  such  a  question  it  would  be 
possible  wholly  to  eliminate  political  partisanship.  Yet 
those  who  believe,  as  we  all  must  when  we  think  seriously 
of  the  subject,  that  the  proper  aim  of  the  party  system 
is,  after  all,  simply  to  subserve  the  public  good,  cannot 
but  hope  that  where  such  partisanship  on  a  matter  of  this 
kind  conflicts  with  the  public  good  it  shall  at  least  be 
minimized.  It  is  all  right  and  inevitable  that  we  should 
divide  on  party  lines,  but  woe  to  us  if  we  are  not  Ameri 
cans  first  and  party  men  second  !  What  we  really  need  in 
this  country  is  to  treat  the  tariff  as  a  business  proposition 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  interests  of  the  country  as  a 
whole,  and  not  from  the  standpoint  of  the  temporary 


LOGANSPORT  77 

needs  of  any  political  party.  It  surely  ought  not  to  be 
necessary  to  dwell  upon  the  extreme  unwisdom,  from  a 
business  standpoint,  from  the  standpoint  of  national  pros 
perity,  of  violent  and  radical  changes  amounting  to  the 
direct  upsetting  of  tariff  policies  at  intervals  of  every  few 
years.  A  nation  like  ours  can  adjust  its  business  after  a 
fashion  to  any  kind  of  tariff.  But  neither  our  nation  nor 
any  other  can  stand  the  ruinous  policy  of  readjusting  its 
business  to  radical  changes  in  the  tariff  at  short  intervals. 
This  is  more  true  now  than  ever  it  was  before,  for,  owing 
to  the  immense  extent  and  variety  of  our  products,  the 
tariff  schedules  of  to-day  carry  rates  of  duty  on  more  than 
four  thousand  articles.  Continual  sweeping  changes  in 
such  a  tariff,  touching  so  intimately  the  commercial  inter 
ests  of  the  nation  which  stands  as  one  of  the  two  or  three 
greatest  in  the  whole  industrial  world,  cannot  but  be  dis 
astrous.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  industrial 
needs  of  the  nation  shift  as  rapidly  as  they  do  with  us,  it 
is  a  matter  of  prime  importance  that  we  should  be  able 
to  readjust  our  economic  policy  as  rapidly  as  possible  and 
with  as  little  friction  as  possible  to  these  needs. 

We  need  a  scheme  which  will  enable  us  to  provide  a 
reapplication  of  the  principle  to  the  changed  conditions. 
The  problem,  therefore,  is  to  devise  some  method  by 
which  these  shifting  needs  can  be  recognized  and  the  neces 
sary  readjustments  of  duties  provided  without  forcing 
the  entire  business  community,  and  therefore  the  entire 
nation,  to  submit  to  a  violent  surgical  operation,  the 
mere  threat  of  which,  and  still  more  the  accomplished  fact 
of  which,  would  probably  paralyze  for  a  considerable  time 
all  the  industries  of  the  country.  Such  radical  action 
might  very  readily  reproduce  the  conditions  from  which 
we  suffered  nine  years  ago,  in  1893.  It  is  on  every  ac 
count  most  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  this  problem  can 
be  solved  in  some  manner  into  which  partisanship  shall 
enter  as  a  purely  secondary  consideration,  if  at  all — that 


78  ADDRESSES 

is,  in  some  manner  which  shall  provide  for  an  earnest 
effort  by  non-partisan  inquiry  and  action  to  secure  any 
changes  the  need  of  which  is  indicated  by  the  effect  found 
to  proceed  from  a  given  rate  of  duty  on  a  given  article : 
its  effect,  if  any,  as  regards  the  creation  of  a  substantial 
monopoly;  its  effect  upon  domestic  prices,  upon  the 
revenue  of  the  Government,  upon  importations  from 
abroad,  upon  home  production,  and  upon  consumption. 
In  other  words,  we  need  to  devise  some  machinery  by 
which,  while  persevering  in  the  policy  of  a  protective 
tariff,  in  which  I  think  the  nation  as  a  whole  has  now 
generally  acquiesced,  we  would  be  able  to  correct  the 
irregularities  and  remove  the  incongruities  produced  by 
changing  conditions,  without  destroying  the  whole  struc 
ture.  Such  machinery  would  permit  us  to  continue  our 
definitely  settled  tariff  policy,  while  providing  for  the 
changes  in  duties  upon  particular  schedules  which  must 
inevitably  and  necessarily  take  place  from  time  to  time 
as  matters  of  legislative  and  administrative  detail.  This 
would  secure  the  needed  stability  of  economic  policy, 
which  is  a  prime  factor  in  our  industrial  success,  while 
doing  away  with  any  tendency  to  fossilization.  It  would 
recognize  the  fact  that  as  our  needs  shift  it  may  be  found 
advisable  to  alter  rates  and  schedules,  adapting  them  to 
the  changed  conditions  and  necessities  of  the  whole  peo 
ple;  and  this  would  be  in  no  wise  incompatible  with 
preserving  the  principle  of  protection,  for  belief  in  the 
wisdom  of  a  protective  tariff  is  in  no  way  inconsistent 
with  frankly  admitting  the  desirability  of  changing  a  set 
of  schedules,  when  from  any  cause  such  change  is  in  the 
interests  of  the  nation  as  a  whole — and  our  tariff  policy 
is  designed  to  favor  the  interests  of  the  nation  as  a  whole 
and  not  those  of  any  particular  set  of  individuals  save 
as  an  incident  to  this  building  up  of  national  well-being. 
There  are  two  or  three  different  methods  by  which  it  will 
be  possible  to  provide  such  readjustment  without  any 


LOGANSPORT  79 

shock  to  the  business  world.  My  personal  preference 
would  be  for  action  which  should  be  taken  only  after  pre 
liminary  inquiry  by,  and  upon  the  findings  of,  a  body  of 
experts  of  such  high  character  and  ability  that  they  could 
be  trusted  to  deal  with  the  subject  purely  from  the  stand 
point  of  our  business  and  industrial  needs;  but  of  course 
Congress  would  have  to  determine  for  itself  the  exact 
method  to  be  followed.  The  Executive  has  at  its  com 
mand  the  means  for  gathering  most  of  the  necessary  data, 
and  can  act  whenever  it  is  the  desire  of  Congress  that  it 
should  act.  That  the  machinery  for  carrying  out  the 
policy  above  outlined  can  be  provided  I  am  very  certain, 
if  only  our  people  will  make  up  their  minds  that  the 
health  of  the  community  will  be  subserved  by  treating 
the  whole  question  primarily  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
business  interests  of  the  entire  country,  rather  than  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  fancied  interests  of  any  group  of 
politicians. 

Of  course,  in  making  any  changes  we  should  have  to 
proceed  in  accordance  with  certain  fixed  and  definite 
principles,  and  the  most  important  of  these  is  an  avowed 
determination  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  American 
producer,  be  he  business  man,  wage-worker,  or  farmer. 
The  one  consideration  which  must  never  be  omitted  in 
a  tariff  change  is  the  imperative  need  of  preserving  the 
American  standard  of  living  for  the  American  working- 
man.  The  tariff  rate  must  never  fall  below  that  which 
will  protect  the  American  workingman  by  allowing  for 
the  difference  between  the  general  labor  cost  here  and 
abroad,  so  as  at  least  to  equalize  the  conditions  arising  from 
the  difference  in  the  standard  of  labor  here  and  abroad — 
a  difference  which  it  should  be  our  aim  to  foster  in  so  far 
as  it  represents  the  needs  of  better  educated,  better  paid, 
better  fed,  and  better  clothed  workingmen  of  a  higher 
type  than  any  to  be  found  in  a  foreign  country.  At 
all  hazards,  and  no  matter  what  else  is  sought  for  or 


80  ADDRESSES 

accomplished  by  changes  of  the  tariff,  the  American  work- 
ingman  must  be  protected  in  his  standard  of  wages — that 
is,  in  his  standard  of  living,  and  must  be  secured  the  full 
est  opportunity  of  employment.  Our  laws  should  in  no 
event  afford  advantage  to  foreign  industries  over  Ameri 
can  industries.  They  should  in  no  event  do  less  than 
equalize  the  difference  in  conditions  at  home  and  abroad. 
The  general  tariff  policy  to  which,  without  regard  to 
changes  in  detail,  I  believe  this  country  to  be  irrevocably 
committed,  is  fundamentally  based  upon  ample  recogni 
tion  of  the  difference  in  labor  cost  here  and  abroad ;  in 
other  words,  the  recognition  of  the  need  for  full  develop 
ment  of  the  intelligence,  the  comfort,  the  high  standard  of 
civilized  living  and  the  inventive  genius  of  the  American 
workingman  as  compared  to  the  workingman  of  any 
other  country  in  the  world. 

It  is  pretty  simple  to  go  just  one  way  and  turn  another 
way,  and  then  go  another  way,  if  somebody  tells  you 
how,  but  if  you  have  got  to  think  for  yourself,  then  you 
appreciate  the  fact  that  the  man  on  your  right  hand  is 
thinking  too,  and  that  he  will  "stay  put."  We  won  in 
the  Civil  War  because  we  had  the  manhood  to  which  to 
appeal.  We  are  going  to  win  as  a  nation  in  the  great  in 
dustrial  contest  of  the  present  day,  because  the  average 
American  has  in  him  the  stuff  out  of  which  victors  are 
made — victors  in  the  industrial  and  victors  in  the  military 
world.  And  we  can  preserve  the  marvellous  prosperity 
which  we  now  enjoy  not  by  shirking  facts,  not  by  being 
afraid  —  that  was  not  how  you  won  from  '61  to  '65. 
There  were  people  who  said  you  could  not  win,  but  you 
did,  and  the  people  who  won  were  those  who  looked 
up  and  not  those  who  looked  down.  You  recollect  that 
before  Bull  Run  there  were  some  excellent  people  who 
denounced  Abraham  Lincoln  because  he  did  not  go  into 
Richmond  at  once ;  and  after  Bull  Run  they  said  the  war 
was  ended ;  but  it  was  not  ended  ;  it  took  three  years  and 


LOGANSPORT  81 

nine  months  to  end  it,  and  then  it  ended  the  other  way. 
Now,  gentlemen,  we  can  win  and  we  will  win  as  citizens 
of  this  Republic  by  showing  in  the  complex,  hard,  pushing 
life  of  this  century,  the  same  qualities  that  were  shown  by 
the  men  of  the  Civil  War  in  that  contest ;  and  above  all 
by  keeping  the  high  average  of  individual  citizenship 
which  made  the  armies  that  saw  Appomattox  the  finest 
which  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

6 


XI 


AT  THE  BANQUET  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COM- 
MERGE  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  AT 
NEW  YORK,  NOVEMBER  n,  1902 

Mr.  President,  gentlemen,  and  you,  the  guests,  whom  we 

welcome  here  this  evening  : 

I  do  not  wish  to  speak  to  you  in  the  language  of  idle 
compliment,  and  yet  it  is  but  a  bare  statement  of  fact  to 
say  that  nowhere  in  our  country  could  there  be  gathered 
an  audience  which  would  stand  as  more  typically  charac 
teristic  than  this  of  all  those  qualities  and  attributes  which 
have  given  us  of  the  United  States  our  commanding  posi 
tion  in  the  industrial  world.  There  is  no  need  of  my 
preaching  to  this  gathering  the  need  of  combining  effi 
ciency  with  upright  dealing,  for  as  an  American  and  as  a 
citizen  of  New  York  I  am  proud  to  feel  that  the  name  of 
your  organization  carries  with  it  a  guaranty  of  both ;  and 
your  practice  counts  for  more  than  any  preaching  could 
possibly  count.  New  York  is  a  city  of  national  import 
ance,  because  its  position  toward  the  nation  is  unique, 
and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New  York  must  of 
necessity  be  an  element  of  weight  in  the  commercial 
and  industrial  welfare  of  the  entire  people.  New  York  is 
the  great  port  of  entry  for  our  country — the  port  in  which 
centres  the  bulk  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country, 
— and  her  welfare  is  therefore  no  matter  of  mere  local  or 
municipal,  but  of  national,  concern.  The  conduct  of  the 
Government  in  dealing  with  all  matters  affecting  the  finan- 

82 


NEW  YORK  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE      83 

cial  and  commercial  relations  of  New  York  must  continu 
ally  take  into  account  this  fact ;  and  it  must  be  taken  into 
account  in  appreciating  the  importance  of  the  part  played 
by  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

This  body  stands  for  the  triumphs  of  peace  both  abroad 
and  at  home.  We  have  passed  that  stage  of  national  de 
velopment  when  depreciation  of  other  peoples  is  felt  as  a 
tribute  to  our  own.  We  watch  the  growth  and  prosperity 
of  other  nations,  not  with  hatred  or  jealousy,  but  with 
sincere  and  friendly  good-will.  I  think  I  can  say  safely 
that  we  have  shown  by  our  attitude  toward  Cuba,  by  our 
attitude  toward  China,  that  as  regards  weaker  powers  our 
desire  is  that  they  may  be  able  to  stand  alone,  and  that 
if  they  will  only  show  themselves  willing  to  deal  honestly 
and  fairly  with  the  rest  of  mankind  we  on  our  side  will  do 
all  we  can  to  help,  not  to  hinder,  them.  With  the  great 
powers  of  the  world  we  desire  no  rivalry  that  is  not  honor 
able  to  both  parties.  We  wish  them  well.  We  believe 
that  the  trend  of  the  modern  spirit  is  ever  stronger  toward 
peace,  not  war;  toward  friendship,  not  hostility,  as  the 
normal  international  attitude.  We  are  glad  indeed  that 
we  are  on  good  terms  with  all  the  other  peoples  of  man 
kind,  and  no  effort  on  our  part  shall  be  spared  to  secure 
a  continuance  of  these  relations.  And  remember,  gentle 
men,  that  we  shall  be  a  potent  factor  for  peace  largely  in 
proportion  to  the  way  in  which  we  make  it  evident  that 
our  attitude  is  due,  not  to  weakness,  not  to  inability  to 
defend  ourselves,  but  to  a  genuine  repugnance  to  wrong 
doing,  a  genuine  desire  for  self-respecting  friendship  with 
our  neighbors.  The  voice  of  the  weakling  or  the  craven 
counts  for  nothing  when  he  clamors  for  peace ;  but  the 
voice  of  the  just  man  armed  is  potent.  We  need  to  keep 
in  a  condition  of  preparedness,  especially  as  regards  our 
navy,  not  because  we  want  war,  but  because  we  desire  to 
stand  with  those  whose  plea  for  peace  is  listened  to  with 
respectful  attention. 


84  ADDRESSES 

Important  though  it  is  that  we  should  have  peace 
abroad,  it  is  even  more  important  that  we  should  have 
peace  at  home.  You,  men  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
to  whose  efforts  we  owe  so  much  of  our  industrial  well- 
being,  can,  and  I  believe  surely  will,  be  influential  in 
helping  toward  that  industrial  peace  which  can  obtain  in 
society  only  when  in  their  various  relations  employer  and 
employed  alike  show  not  merely  insistence  each  upon  his 
own  rights,  but  also  regard  for  the  rights  of  others,  and 
a  full  acknowledgment  of  the  interests  of  the  third  party 
— the  public.  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  work  out  a  system 
or  rule  of  conduct,  whether  with  or  without  the  help  of 
the  lawgiver,  which  shall  minimize  that  jarring  and  clash 
ing  of  interests  in  the  industrial  world  which  causes  so 
much  individual  irritation  and  suffering  at  the  present 
day,  and  which  at  times  threatens  baleful  consequences 
to  large  portions  of  the  body  politic.  But  the  importance 
of  the  problem  can  not  be  overestimated,  and  it  deserves 
to  receive  the  careful  thought  of  all  men  such  as  those 
whom  I  am  addressing  to-night.  There  should  be  no 
yielding  to  wrong;  but  there  should  most  certainly  be 
not  only  desire  to  do  right,  but  a  willingness  each  to  try 
to  understand  the  view-point  of  his  fellow,  with  whom, 
for  weal  or  for  woe,  his  own  fortunes  are  indissolubly 
bound. 

No  patent  remedy  can  be  devised  for  the  solution  of 
these  grave  problems  in  the  industrial  world ;  but  we  may 
rest  assured  that  they  can  be  solved  at  all  only  if  we 
bring  to  the  solution  certain  old-time  virtues,  and  if  we 
strive  to  keep  out  of  the  solution  some  of  the  most 
familiar  and  most  undesirable  of  the  traits  to  which  man 
kind  has  owed  untold  degradation  and  suffering  through 
out  the  ages.  Arrogance,  suspicion,  brutal  envy  of  the 
well-to-do,  brutal  indifference  toward  those  who  are  not 
well-to-do,  the  hard  refusal  to  consider  the  rights  of 
others,  the  foolish  refusal  to  consider  the  limits  of  benefi- 


NEW  YORK  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE      85 

cent  action,  the  base  appeal  to  the  spirit  of  selfish 
greed,  whether  it  take  the  form  of  plunder  of  the  fortu 
nate  or  of  oppression  of  the  unfortunate — from  these  and 
from  all  kindred  vices  this  nation  must  be  kept  free  if  it 
is  to  remain  in  its  present  position  in  the  forefront  of  the 
peoples  of  mankind.  On  the  other  hand,  good  will  come, 
even  out  of  the  present  evils,  if  we  face  them  armed  with 
the  old  homely  virtues ;  if  we  show  that  we  are  fearless 
of  soul,  cool  of  head,  and  kindly  of  heart ;  if,  without 
betraying  the  weakness  that  cringes  before  wrong-doing, 
we  yet  show  by  deeds  and  words  our  knowledge  that  in 
such  a  government  as  ours  each  of  us  must  be  in  very 
truth  his  brother's  keeper. 

At  a  time  when  the  growing  complexity  of  our  social 
and  industrial  life  has  rendered  inevitable  the  intrusion 
of  the  State  into  spheres  of  work  wherein  it  formerly 
took  no  part,  and  when  there  is  also  a  growing  tendency 
to  demand  the  illegitimate  and  unwise  transfer  to  the 
Government  of  much  of  the  work  that  should  be  done 
by  private  persons,  singly  or  associated  together,  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  address  a  body  whose  members  possess  to  an 
eminent  degree  the  traditional  American  self-reliance  of 
spirit  which  makes  them  scorn  to  ask  from  the  Govern 
ment,  whether  of  State  or  of  Nation,  anything  but  a  fair 
field  and  no  favor — who  confide  not  in  being  helped  by 
others,  but  in  their  own  skill,  energy,  and  business  ca 
pacity  to  achieve  success.  The  first  requisite  of  a  good 
citizen  in  this  Republic  of  ours  is  that  he  shall  be  able  and 
willing  to  pull  his  weight — that  he  shall  not  be  a  mere 
passenger,  but  shall  do  his  share  in  the  work  that  each 
generation  of  us  finds  ready  to  hand;  and,  furthermore, 
that  in  doing  his  work  he  shall  show  not  only  the  capacity 
for  sturdy  self-help,  but  also  self-respecting  regard  for  the 
rights  of  others. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  it  is  no  idle  boast  to  say, 
stands  in  a  pre-eminent  degree  for  those  qualities  which 


86  ADDRESSES 

make  the  successful  merchant,  the  successful  business 
man,  whose  success  is  won  in  ways  honorable  to  himself 
and  beneficial  to  his  fellows.  There  are  very  different 
kinds  of  success.  There  is  the  success  that  brings  with  it 
the  seared  soul — the  success  which  is  achieved  by  wolfish 
greed  and  vulpine  cunning  —  the  success  which  makes 
honest  men  uneasy  or  indignant  in  its  presence.  Then 
there  is  the  other  kind  of  success  —  the  success  which 
comes  as  the  reward  of  keen  insight,  of  sagacity,  of  reso 
lution,  of  address,  combined  with  unflinching  rectitude  of 
behavior,  public  and  private.  The  first  kind  of  success 
may,  in  a  sense — and  a  poor  sense  at  that — benefit  the 
individual,  but  it  is  always  and  necessarily  a  curse  to  the 
community ;  whereas  the  man  who  wins  the  second  kind, 
as  an  incident  of  its  winning,  becomes  a  beneficiary  to 
the  whole  commonwealth.  Throughout  its  history  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  has  stood  for  this  second  and 
higher  kind  of  success.  It  is  therefore  fitting  that  I  should 
come  on  here  as  the  Chief  Executive  of  the  nation  to  wish 
you  well  in  your  new  home ;  for  you  belong  not  merely 
to  the  city,  not  merely  to  the  State,  but  to  all  the  coun 
try,  and  you  stand  high  among  the  great  factors  in  build 
ing  up  that  marvellous  prosperity  which  the  entire  country 
now  enjoys.  The  continuance  of  this  prosperity  depends 
in  no  small  measure  upon  your  sanity  and  common-sense, 
upon  the  way  in  which  you  combine  energy  in  action 
with  conservative  refusal  to  take  part  in  the  reckless 
gambling  which  is  so  often  bred  by,  and  which  so  inevita 
bly  puts  an  end  to,  prosperity.  You  are  men  of  might 
in  the  world  of  American  effort;  you  are  men  whose 
names  stand  high  in  the  esteem  of  our  people ;  you  are 
spoken  of  in  terms  like  those  used  in  the  long-gone 
ages  when  it  was  said  of  the  Phoenician  cities  that 
their  merchants  were  princes.  Great  is  your  power  and 
great,  therefore,  your  responsibility.  Well  and  faithfully 
have  you  met  this  responsibility  in  the  past.  We  look 


NEW  YORK  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE      87 

forward  with  confident  hope  to  what  you  will  do  in  the 
future,  and  it  is  therefore  with  sincerity  that  I  bid  you 
Godspeed  this  evening  and  wish  for  you,  in  the  name 
of  the  nation,  a  career  of  ever-increasing  honor  and 
usefulness. 


XII 


AT  THE  DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  OF  THE  NEW 
HIGH-SCHOOL  BUILDING,  PHILADELPHIA, 
PA.,  NOVEMBER  22,  1902 

Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen  : 

I  am  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  being  present  at  the 
formal  dedication  of  this  new  building,  which  in  its  man- 
a'gement  stands  in  line  of  succession  to  a  series  of  buildings, 
themselves  typifying  in  no  small  degree  the  extraordinary 
development  of  the  public-school  system  of  the  United 
States.  It  was  some  sixty-four  years  ago  that  this  institu 
tion  was  first  established  under  a  man  of  great  eminence 
alike  in  the  work  of  pedagogy  and  in  other  fields — Profes 
sor  Biggs.  At  the  time  when  it  was  started  the  public- 
school  system  of  the  United  States  had  begun  and  was  in 
the  process  of  its  first  development.  Now,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  in  attendance  upon  the  public  schools,  in 
cluding  the  night  schools,  there  are  some  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  pupils  and  over  four  thousand  teachers. 

XThe  development  of  the  high  school,  especially  during 
ihe  last  half  century,  has  been  literally  phenomenal. 
Nothing  like  our  present  system  of  education  was  known 
in  earlier  times.  No  such  system  of  popular  education 
for  the  people  by  the  representatives  of  the  people 
existed. 

It  is,  of  course,  a  mere  truism  to  say  that  the  stability 
and  future  welfare  of  our  institutions  of  government  de 
pend  upon  the  grade  of  citizenship  turned  out  from  our 

88 


HIGH-SCHOOL,  PHILADELPHIA  89 

public  schools.  And  no  body  of  public  servants,  no  body 
of  individuals  associated  in  private  life,  are  better  worth 
the  admiration  and  respect  of  all  who  value  citizenship  at 
its  true  worth,  than  the  body  composed  of  the  teachers 
in  the  public  schools  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  this  Union.  They  have  to  deal  with  citizenship  in  the 
raw  and  turn  it  out  something  like  a  finished  product.  I 
think  that  all  of  us  who  also  endeavor  to  deal  with  that 
citizenship  in  the  raw  in  our  own  homes  appreciate  the 
burden  and  the  responsibility.  The  training  given  in  the 
public  schools  must,  of  course,  be  not  merely  a  training 
in  intellect,  but  a  training  in  what  counts  for  infinitely 
more  than  intellect, — a  training  in  character.  And  the 
chief  factor  in  that  training  must  be  the  personal  equation 
of  the  teachers;  the  influence  exerted,  sometimes  con 
sciously  and  sometimes  unconsciously,  by  the  man  or 
woman  who  stands  in  so  peculiar  a  relation  to  the  boys 
and  girls  under  his  or  her  care — a  relation  closer,  more 
intricate,  and  more  vital  in  its  after-effects  than  any  other 
relation  save  that  of  parent  and  child.  Wherever  a  bur 
den  of  that  kind  is  laid,  those  who  carry  it  necessarily 
carry  a  great  responsibility.  There  can  be  no  greater. 
Scant  should  be  our  patience  with  any  man  or  woman 
doing  a  bit  of  work  vitally  worth  doing,  who  does  not 
approach  it  in  the  spirit  of  sincere  love  for  the  work,  and 
of  desire  to  do  it  well  for  the  work's  sake. 

Doubtless  most  of  you  remember  the  old  distinction 
drawn  between  the  two  kinds  of  work,  the  work  done  for 
the  sake  of  the  fee  and  the  work  done  for  the  sake  of  the 
work  itself.  The  man  or  woman  in  public  or  private  life 
who  ever  works  only  for  the  sake  of  the  reward  that  comes 
outside  of  the  work,  will  in  the  long  run  do  poor  work. 
The  man  or  woman  who  does  work  worth  doing  is  the 
man  or  woman  who  lives,  who  breathes  that  work ;  with 
whom  it  is  ever  present  in  his  or  her  soul ;  whose  ambition 
is  to  do  it  well  and  to  feel  rewarded  by  the  thought  of 


90  ADDRESSES 

having  done  it  well.  That  man,  that  woman,  puts  the 
whole  country  under  an  obligation.  As  a  body  all  those 
connected  with  the  education  of  our  people  are  en 
titled  to  the  heartiest  praise  from  all  lovers  of  their  coun 
try,  because  as  a  body  they  are  devoting  heart  and  soul 
to  the  welfare  of  those  under  them. 

It  is  a  poor  type  of  school  nowadays  that  has  not 
a  good  playground  attached.  It  is  not  so  long  since, 
in  my  own  city  at  least,  this  was  held  as  revolutionary 
doctrine,  especially  in  the  crowded  quarters  where  play 
grounds  were  most  needed.  People  said  they  did  n't 
need  playgrounds.  It  was  a  new-fangled  idea.  They 
expected  to  make  good  citizens  of  the  boys  and  girls  who, 
when  they  were  not  in  school,  were  put  upon  the  streets 
in  the  crowded  quarters  of  New  York  to  play  at  the  kind 
of  games  alone  that  they  could  play  at  in  the  streets.  We 
have  passed  that  stage.  I  think  we  realize  what  a  good 
healthy  playground  means  to  children.  I  think  we  under 
stand  not  only  the  effects  for  good  upon  their  bodies,  but 
for  good  upon  their  minds.  We  need  healthy  bodies. 
^We  need  to  have  schools  physically  developed. 

Sometimes  you  can  develop  character  by  the  direct  in 
culcation  of  moral  precept ;  a  good  deal  more  often  you 
cannot.  You  develop  it  less  by  precept  than  by  your 
practice.  Let  it  come  as  an  incident  of  the  association 
with  you ;  as  an  incident  to  the  general  tone  of  the  whole 
body,  the  tone  which  in  the  aggregate  we  all  create.  Is 
not  that  the  experience  of  all  of  you,  in  dealing  with 
these  children  in  the  schools,  in  dealing  with  them  in  the 
family,  in  dealing  with  them  in  bodies  anywhere?  They 
are  quick  to  take  the  tone  of  those  to  whom  they  look 
up,  and  if  they  do  not  look  up  to  you,  then  you  can 
preach  virtue  all  you  wish,  but  the  effect  will  be  small. 

I  have  not  come  here  to  try  to  make  any  extended 
speech  to  you,  but  I  should  hold  myself  a  poor  citizen  if  I 
did  not  welcome  the  chance  to  wish  you  Godspeed  in 


HIGH-SCHOOL,  PHILADELPHIA  91 

your  work  for  yourselves  and  to  wish  you  Godspeed  in 
your  work  as  representatives  of  that  great  body  of  public- 
school  teachers,  upon  the  success  of  whose  efforts  to  train 
aright  the  children  of  to-day  depends  the  safety  of  our 
institutions  of  to-morrow. 


XIII 

AT  THE  FOUNDERS'  DAY  BANQUET  OF  THE 
UNION  LEAGUE,  PHILADELPHIA,  NOVEMBER 

22,    1902 

Mr.  President,  gentlemen  of  the  Union  League  : 

Forty  years  ago  this  Club  was  founded,  in  the  dark 
days  of  the  Civil  War,  to  uphold  the  hands  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  give  aid  to  those  who  battled  for  the  Union 
and  for  human  liberty.  Two  years  ago  President  Mc- 
Kinley  came  here  as  your  guest  to  thank  you,  and  through 
you  all  those  far-sighted  and  loyal  men  who  had  supported 
him  in  his  successful  effort  to  keep  untarnished  the  na 
tional  good  faith  at  home  and  the  national  honor  abroad, 
and  to  bring  back  to  this  country  the  material  well-being, 
which  we  now  so  abundantly  enjoy.  It  was  no  accident 
which  made  the  men  of  this  Club  who  stood  as  in  a  pecul 
iar  sense  the  champions  and  upholders  of  the  principles 
of  Lincoln  in  the  early  sixties  stand  no  less  stoutly  for 
those  typified  in  the  person  of  McKinley  during  the  clos 
ing  years  of  the  century.  The  qualities  apt  to  make  men 
respond  to  the  call  of  duty  in  one  crisis  are  also  apt  to 
make  them  respond  to  a  similar  call  in  a  crisis  of  a  differ 
ent  character.  The  traits  which  enabled  our  people  to 
pass  unscathed  through  the  fiery  ordeal  of  the  Civil  War 
were  the  traits  upon  which  we  had  to  rely  in  the  less  seri 
ous,  but  yet  serious,  dangers  by  which  we  were  menaced 
in  1896,  1898,  and  1900. 

From  the  very  beginning  our  people  have  markedly 
combined  practical  capacity  for  affairs  with  power  of  de- 

92 


UNION  LEA  G U£,  PHILADELPHIA  93 

votion  to  an  ideal.  The  lack  of  either  quality  would  have 
rendered  the  possession  of  the  other  of  small  value.  Mere 
ability  to  achieve  success  in  things  concerning  the  body 
would  not  have  atoned  for  the  failure  to  live  the  life 
of  high  endeavor;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  without  a 
foundation  of  those  qualities  which  bring  material  pros 
perity  there  would  be  nothing  on  which  the  higher  life 
could  be  built.  The  men  of  the  Revolution  would  have 
failed  if  they  had  not  possessed  alike  devotion  to  liberty 
and  ability  (once  liberty  had  been  achieved)  to  show 
common-sense  and  self-restraint  in  its  use.  The  men  of 
the  great  Civil  War  would  have  failed  had  they  not  pos 
sessed  the  business  capacity  which  developed  and  organ 
ized  their  resources  in  addition  to  the  stern  resolution  to 
expend  these  resources  as  freely  as  they  expended  their 
blood  in  furtherance  of  the  great  cause  for  which  their 
hearts  leaped.  It  is  this  combination  of  qualities  that  has 
made  our  people  succeed.  Other  peoples  have  been  as 
devoted  to  liberty,  and  yet,  because  of  lack  of  hard- 
headed  common-sense  and  of  ability  to  show  restraint 
and  subordinate  individual  passions  for  the  general  good, 
have  failed  so  signally  in  the  struggle  of  life  as  to  become 
a  byword  among  the  nations.  Yet  other  peoples,  again, 
have  possessed  all  possible  thrift  and  business  capacity, 
but  have  been  trampled  under  foot,  or  have  played  a  sor 
did  and  ignoble  part  in  the  world,  because  their  business 
capacity  was  unaccompanied  by  any  of  the  lift  toward 
nobler  things  which  marks  a  great  and  generous  nation. 
The  stern  but  just  rule  of  judgment  for  humanity  is  that 
each  nation  shall  be  known  by  its  fruits ;  and  if  there  are 
no  fruits,  if  the  nation  has  failed,  it  matters  but  little 
whether  it  has  failed  through  meanness  of  soul  or  through 
lack  of  robustness  of  character.  We  must  judge  a  nation 
by  the  net  result  of  its  life  and  activity.  And  so  we  must 
judge  the  policies  of  those  who  at  any  time  control  the 
destinies  of  a  nation. 


94  ADDRESSES 

Therefore  I  ask  you  to-night  to  look  at  the  results  of 
the  policies  championed  by  President  McKinley  on  both 
the  occasions  when  he  appealed  to  the  people  for  their  suf 
frages,  and  to  see  how  well  that  appeal  has  been  justified 
by  the  event.  Most  certainly  I  do  not  claim  all  the  good 
that  has  befallen  us  during  the  past  six  years  as  due  solely 
to  any  human  policy.  No  legislation,  however  wise,  no 
administration,  however  efficient,  can  secure  prosperity 
to  a  people  or  greatness  to  a  nation.  All  that  can  be 
done  by  the  lawmaker  and  the  administrator  is  to  give 
the  best  chance  possible  for  the  people  of  the  country 
themselves  to  show  the  stuff  that  is  in  them.  President 
McKinley  was  elected  in  1896  on  the  specific  pledge 
that  he  would  keep  the  financial  honor  of  the  nation 
untarnished  and  would  put  our  economic  system  on  a 
stable  basis,  so  that  our  people  might  be  given  a  chance 
to  secure  the  return  of  prosperity.  Both  pledges  have 
been  so  well  kept  that,  as  is  but  too  often  the  case, 
men  are  beginning  to  forget  how  much  the  keeping  of 
them  has  meant.  When  people  have  become  very  pros 
perous  they  tend  to  become  sluggishly  indifferent  to  the 
continuation  of  the  policies  that  brought  about  their 
prosperity.  At  such  times  as  these  it  is  of  course  a  mere 
law  of  nature  that  some  men  prosper  more  than  others, 
and  too  often  those  who  prosper  less,  in  their  jealousy  of 
their  more  fortunate  brethren,  forget  that  all  have  pros 
pered  somewhat.  I  ask  you  soberly  to  remember  that 
the  complaint  made  at  the  present  day  of  our  industrial 
or  economic  conditions  never  takes  the  form  of  stating 
that  any  of  our  people  are  less  well  off  than  they  were 
seven  or  eight  years  back,  before  President  McKinley 
came  in  and  his  policies  had  a  chance  to  be  applied ;  but 
that  the  complaint  'is  that  some  people  have  received 
more  than  their  share  of  the  good  things  of  the  world. 
There  was  no  such  complaint  eight  years  ago,  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1894.  Complaint  was  not  then  that  any  one  had 


UNION  LEAGUE,  PHILADELPHIA  95 

prospered  too  much;  it  was  that  no  one  had  prospered 
enough.  Let  each  one  of  us  think  of  the  affairs  of  his 
own  household  and  his  own  business,  let  each  of  us  com 
pare  his  standing  now  with  his  standing  eight  years  back, 
and  then  let  him  answer  for  himself  whether  it  is  not  true 
that  the  policies  for  which  William  McKinley  stood  in 
1896  have  justified  themselves  thrice  over  by  the  results 
they  have  brought  about. 

In  1900  the  issues  were  in  part  the  same,  but  new  ones 
had  been  added.  Prosperity  had  returned ;  the  gold 
standard  was  assured ;  our  tariff  was  remodelled  on  the 
lines  that  have  marked  it  at  all  periods  when  our  well- 
being  was  greatest.  But,  as  must  often  happen,  the  Presi 
dent  elected  on  certain  issues  was  obliged  to  face  others 
entirely  unforeseen.  Rarely  indeed  have  our  greatest 
men  made  issues — they  have  shown  their  greatness  by 
meeting  them  as  they  arose.  President  McKinley  faced 
the  problems  of  the  Spanish  war  and  those  that  followed 
it  exactly  as  he  had  faced  the  problems  of  our  economic 
and  financial  needs.  '-As  a  sequel  to  the  war  with  Spain 
we  found  ourselves  in  possession  of  the  Philippines  under 
circumstances  which  rendered  it  necessary  to  subdue  a 
formidable  insurrection  which  made  it  impossible  for  us 
with  honor  or  with  regard  to  the  welfare  of  the  islands 
to  withdraw  therefrom.  The  occasion  was  seized  by  the 
opponents  of  the  President  for  trying  to  raise  a  new 
issue,  on  which  they  hoped  they  might  be  more  success 
ful  than  on  the  old.  The  clamor  raised  against  him  was 
joined  in  not  only  by  many  honest  men  who  were  led 
astray  by  a  mistaken  view  or  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
facts,  but  by  all  who  feared  effort,  who  shrank  from  the 
rough  work  of  endeavor.  The  campaign  of  1900  had  to 
be  fought  largely  upon  the  new  issue  thus  raised.  Presi 
dent  McKinley  met  it  squarely.  Two  years  and  eight 
months  ago,  before  his  second  nomination,  he  spoke  as 
follows : 


96  ADDRESSES 

We  believe  that  the  century  of  free  government  which  the 
American  people  have  enjoyed  has  not  rendered  them  irreso 
lute  and  faithless,  but  has  fitted  them  for  the  great  task  of  lift 
ing  up  and  assisting  to  better  conditions  and  larger  liberty 
those  distant  peoples  who  through  the  issue  of  battle  have 
become  our  wards.  Let  us  fear  not.  There  is  no  occasion 
for  faint  hearts,  no  excuse  for  regrets.  Nations  do  not  grow 
in  strength,  the  cause  of  liberty  and  law  is  not  advanced  by 
the  doing  of  easy  things.  The  harder  the  task  the  greater  will 
be  the  result,  the  benefit,  and  the  honor.  To  doubt  our  power 
to  accomplish  it  is  to  lose  faith  in  the  soundness  and  strength 
of  our  popular  institutions.  .  .  .  We  have  the  new  care 
and  cannot  shift  it.  And,  breaking  up  the  camp  of  ease  and 
isolation,  let  us  bravely  and  hopefully  and  soberly  continue 
the  march  of  faithful  service,  and  falter  not  until  the  work  is 
done.  .  .  .  The  burden  is  our  opportunity.  The  oppor 
tunity  is  greater  than  the  burden. 

There  spoke  the  man  who  preached  the  gospel  of  hope 
as  well  as  the  gospel  of  duty,  and  on  the  issue  thus  fairly 
drawn  between  those  who  said  we  would  do  our  new 
work  well  and  triumphantly  and  those  who  said  we  would 
fail  lamentably  in  the  effort,  the  contest  was  joined.  We 
won.  And  now  I  ask  you,  two  years  after  the  victory, 
to  look  across  the  seas  and  judge  for  yourselves  whether 
or  not  the  promise  has  been  kept.  The  prophets  of  dis 
aster  have  seen  their  predictions  so  completely  falsified 
by  the  event  that  it  is  actually  difficult  to  arouse  even  a 
passing  interest  in  their  failure.  To  answer  them  now, 
to  review  their  attack  on  our  army,  is  of  merely  academic 
interest.  They  played  their  brief  part  of  obstruction  and 
clamor;  they  said  their  say;  and  the  current  of  our  life 
went  over  them  and  they  sank  under  it  as  did  their  pre 
decessors  who,  thirty-six  years  before,  had  declared  that 
another  and  greater  war  was  a  failure,  that  another  and 
greater  struggle  for  true  liberty  was  only  a  contest  for 
subjugation  in  which  the  United  States  could  never  sue- 


UNION  LEA  G  UE,  PHIL  A  DELPHI  A  97 

ceed.  The  insurrection  among  the  Filipinos  has  been 
absolutely  quelled.  The  war  has  been  brought  to  an  end 
sooner  than  even  the  most  sanguine  of  us  dared  to  hope. 
The  world  has  not  in  recent  years  seen  any  military  task 
done  with  more  soldierly  energy  and  ability ;  and  done, 
moreover,  in  a  spirit  of  great  humanity.  The  strain  on 
the  army  was  terrible,  for  the  conditions  of  climate  and 
soil  made  their  work  harassing  to  an  extraordinary  de 
gree,  and  the  foes  in  the  field  were  treacherous  and  cruel, 
not  merely  toward  our  men,  but  toward  the  great  multi 
tude  of  peaceful  islanders  who  welcomed  our  rule. 
Under  the  strain  of  well-nigh  intolerable  provocation 
there  were  shameful  instances,  as  must  happen  in  all 
wars,  where  the  soldiers  forgot  themselves,  and  retaliated 
evil  for  evil.  There  were  one  hundred  thousand  of  our 
men  in  the  Philippines,  a  hundred  thousand  hired  for  a 
small  sum  a  month  apiece,  put  there  under  conditions 
that  strained  their  nerves  to  the  breaking  point,  and  some 
of  the  hundred  thousand  did  what  they  ought  not  to  have 
done.  But  out  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  at  home, 
have  all  been  faultless?  Every  effort  has  been  made  to 
detect  such  cases,  to  punish  the  offenders,  and  to  prevent 
any  recurrence  of  the  deed.  It  is  a  cruel  injustice  to  the 
gallant  men  who  fought  so  well  in  the  Philippines  not  to 
recognize  that  these  instances  were  exceptional,  and  that 
the  American  troops  who  served  in  the  far-off  tropic 
islands  deserve  praise  the  same  in  kind  that  has  always 
been  given  to  those  who  have  well  and  valiantly  fought 
for  the  honor  of  our  common  flag  and  common  country. 
The  work  of  civil  administration  has  kept  pace  with  the 
work  of  military  administration,  and  when  on  July  4th 
last  amnesty  and  peace  were  declared  throughout  the 
islands  the  civil  government  assumed  the  complete  con 
trol.  Peace  and  order  now  prevail  and  a  greater  measure 
of  prosperity  and  of  happiness  than  the  Filipinos  have 
ever  hitherto  known  in  all  their  dark  and  checkered 


98  ADDRESSES 

history ;  and  each  one  of  them  has  a  greater  measure  of 
liberty,  a  greater  chance  of  happiness,  and  greater  safety 
for  his  life  and  property  than  he  or  his  forefathers  have 
ever  before  known. 

Thus  we  have  met  each  task  that  has  confronted  us 
during  the  past  six  years.  Thus  we  have  kept  every 
promise  made  in  1896  and  1900.  We  have  a  right  to  be 
proud  of  the  memories  of  the  last  six  years.  But  we 
must  remember  that  each  victory  only  opens  the  chance 
for  a  new  struggle;  that  the  remembrance  of  triumphs 
achieved  in  the  past  is  of  use  chiefly  if  it  spurs  us  to  fresh 
effort  in  the  present.  No  nation  has  ever  prospered  as 
we  are  prospering  now,  and  we  must  see  to  it  that  by 
our  own  folly  we  do  not  mar  this  prosperity.  Yet  we 
must  see  to  it  also  that  wherever  wrong  flourishes  it  be 
repressed.  It  is  not  the  habit  of  our  people  to  shirk 
issues,  but  squarely  to  face  them.  It  is  not  the  habit  of 
our  people  to  treat  a  good  record  in  the  past  as  anything 
but  a  reason  for  expecting  an  even  better  record  in  the 
present ;  and  no  administration,  gentlemen,  should  ask  to 
be  judged  save  on  those  lines.  The  tremendous  growth 
of  our  industrialism  has  brought  to  the  front  many  prob 
lems  with  which  we  must  deal ;  and  I  trust  that  we  shall 
deal  with  them  along  the  lines  indicated  in  speech  and  in 
action  by  that  profound  jurist  and  upright  and  fearless 
public  servant  who  represents  Pennsylvania  in  the  Cabinet 
— Attorney-General  Knox.  The  question  of  the  so-called 
trusts  is  but  one  of  the  questions  we  roust  meet  in  con 
nection  with  our  industrial  system.  There  are  many  of 
them  and  they  are  serious ;  but  they  can  and  will  be  met. 
Time  may  be  needed  for  making  the  solution  perfect; 
but  it  is  idle  to  tell  this  people  that  we  have  not  the 
power  to  solve  such  a  problem  as  that  of  exercising  ade 
quate  supervision  over  the  great  industrial  combinations 
of  to-day.  We  have  the  power  and  we  shall  find  out  the 
way.  We  shall  not  act  hastily  or  recklessly ;  but  we  have 


UNION  LEAGUE,  PHILADELPHIA  99 

firmly  made  up  our  minds  that  a  solution,  and  a  right 
solution,  shall  be  found,  and  found  it  will  be. 

No  nation  as  great  as  ours  can  expect  to  escape  the 
penalty  of  greatness,  for  greatness  does  not  come  with 
out  trouble  and  labor.  There  are  problems  ahead  of  us 
at  home  and  problems  abroad,  because  such  problems  are 
incident  to  the  working  out  of  a  great  national  career. 
We  do  not  shrink  from  them.  Scant  is  our  patience  with 
those  who  preach  the  gospel  of  craven  weakness.  No 
nation  under  the  sun  ever  yet  played  a  part  worth  play 
ing  if  it  feared  its  fate  overmuch — if  it  did  not  have  the 
courage  to  be  great.  We  of  America,  we,  the  sons  of  a 
nation  yet  in  the  pride  of  its  lusty  youth,  spurn  the 
teachings  of  distrust,  spurn  the  creed  of  failure  and  de 
spair.  We  know  that  the  future  is  ours  if  we  have  in  us 
the  manhood  to  grasp  it,  and  we  enter  the  new  century 
girding  our  loins  for  the  contest  before  us,  rejoicing  in 
the  struggle,  and  resolute  so  to  bear  ourselves  that  the 
nation's  future  shall  even  surpass  her  glorious  past. 


XIV 

AT  THE  BANQUET  AT  CANTON,  OHIO,  JANUARY 
27,  1903,  IN  HONOR  OF  THE  BIRTHDAY  OF 
THE  LATE  PRESIDENT  McKINLEY 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  ladies,  and  gentlemen  : 

Throughout  our  history,  and  indeed  throughout  history 
generally,  it  has  been  given  to  only  a  very  few  thrice- 
favored  men  to  take  so  marked  a  lead  in  the  crises  faced 
by  their  several  generations  that  thereafter  each  stands  as 
the  embodiment  of  the  triumphant  effort  of  his  genera 
tion.  President  McKinley  was  one  of  these  men. 

If  during  the  lifetime  of  a  generation  no  crisis  occurs 
sufficient  to  call  out  in  marked  manner  the  energies  of  the 
strongest  leader,  then  of  course  the  world  does  not  and 
cannot  know  of  the  existence  of  such  a  leader;  and  in 
consequence  there  are  long  periods  in  the  history  of  every 
nation  during  which  no  man  appears  who  leaves  an  in 
delible  mark  in  history.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  crisis 
is  one  so  many-sided  as  to  call  for  the  development  and 
exercise  of  many  distinct  attributes,  it  may  be  that  more 
than  one  man  will  appear  in  order  that  the  requirements 
shall  be  fully  met.  In  the  Revolution  and  in  the  period  of 
constructive  statesmanship  immediately  following  it,  for 
our  good  fortune  it  befell  us  that  the  highest  military  and 
the  highest  civic  attributes  were  embodied  in  Washing 
ton,  and  so  in  him  we  have  one  of  the  undying  men  of 
history — a  great  soldier,  if  possible  an  even  greater  states 
man,  and  above  all  a  public  servant  whose  lofty  and  dis- 

100 


McKlNLE  Y  'S  BIR  THDA  Y  101 

interested  patriotism  rendered  his  power  and  ability — 
alike  on  fought  fields  and  in  council  chambers — of  the 
most  far-reaching  service  to  the  Republic.  In  the  Civil 
War  the  two  functions  were  divided,  and  Lincoln  and 
Grant  will  stand  forevermore  with  their  names  inscribed 
on  the  honor  roll  of  those  who  have  deserved  well  of  man 
kind  by  saving  to  humanity  a  precious  heritage.  In 
similar  fashion  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Andrew  Jackson 
stand  each  as  the  foremost  representative  of  the  great 
movement  of  his  generation,  and  their  names  symbolize 
to  us  their  times  and  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  their 
times. 

It  was  given  to  President  McKinley  to  take  the  fore 
most  place  in  our  political  life  at  a  time  when  our  country 
was  brought  face  to  face  with  problems  more  momentous 
than  any  whose  solution  we  have  ever  attempted,  save 
only  in  the  Revolution  and  in  the  Civil  War;  and  it  was 
under  his  leadership  that  the  nation  solved  these  mighty 
problems  aright.  Therefore  he  shall  stand  in  the  eyes  of 
history  not  merely  as  the  first  man  of  his  generation,  but 
as  among  the  greatest  figures  in  our  national  life,  coming 
second  only  to  the  men  of  the  two  great  crises  in  which 
the  Union  was  founded  and  preserved. 

No  man  could  carry  through  successfully  such  a  task 
as  President  McKinley  undertook,  unless  trained  by  long 
years  of  effort  for  its  performance.  Knowledge  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  ability  to  understand  them,  keen  sym 
pathy  with  even  their  innermost  feelings,  and  yet  power 
to  lead  them,  together  with  far-sighted  sagacity  and  reso 
lute  belief  both  in  the  people  and  in  their  future — all 
these  were  needed  in  the  man  who  headed  the  march  of 
our  people  during  the  eventful  years  from  1896  to  1901. 
These  were  the  qualities  possessed  by  McKinley  and  de 
veloped  by  him  throughout  his  whole  history  previous  to 
assuming  the  Presidency.  As  a  lad  he  had  the  inestima 
ble  privilege  of  serving,  first  in  the  ranks,  and  then  as  a 


102  ADDRESSES 

commissioned  officer,  in  the  great  war  for  national  union, 
righteousness,  and  grandeur;  he  was  one  of  those  whom 
a  kindly  Providence  permitted  to  take  part  in  a  struggle 
which  ennobled  every  man  who  fought  therein.  He  who 
when  little  more  than  a  boy  had  seen  the  grim  steadfast 
ness  which  after  four  years  of  giant  struggle  restored  the 
Union  and  freed  the  slave  was  not  thereafter  to  be  daunted 
by  danger  or  frightened  out  of  his  belief  in  the  great 
destiny  of  our  people. 

Some  years  after  the  war  closed  McKinley  came  to 
Congress,  and  rose,  during  a  succession  of  terms,  to 
leadership  in  his  party  in  the  lower  House.  He  also  be 
came  governor  of  his  native  State,  Ohio.  During  this 
varied  service  he  received  practical  training  of  the  kind 
most  valuable  to  him  when  he  became  Chief  Executive 
of  the  nation.  To  the  high  faith  of  his  early  years  was 
added  the  capacity  to  realize  his  ideals,  to  work  with  his 
fellow-men  at  the  same  time  that  he  led  them. 

President  McKinley's  rise  to  greatness  had  in  it  nothing 
of  the  sudden,  nothing  of  the  unexpected  or  seemingly 
accidental.  Throughout  his  long  term  of  service  in  Con 
gress  there  was  a  steady  increase  alike  in  his  power  of 
leadership  and  in  the  recognition  of  that  power  both  by 
his  associates  in  public  life  and  by  the  public  itself.  Ses 
sion  after  session  his  influence  in  the  House  grew  greater; 
his  party  antagonists  grew  to  look  upon  him  with  con 
stantly  increasing  respect,  his  party  friends  with  con 
stantly  increasing  faith  and  admiration.  Eight  years 
before  he  was  nominated  for  President  he  was  already 
considered  a  Presidential  possibility.  Four  years  before 
he  was  nominated  only  his  own  high  sense  of  honor  pre 
vented  his  being  made  a  formidable  competitor  of  the 
chief  upon  whom  the  choice  of  the  convention  then 
actually  fell.  In  1896  he  was  chosen  because  the  great 
mass  of  his  party  knew  him  and  believed  in  him  and  re 
garded  him  as  symbolizing  their  ideals,  as  representing 


McKINLE  Y'S  BIR THDA  Y  103 

their  aspirations.  In  estimating  the  forces  which  brought 
about  his  nomination  and  election  I  do  not  undervalue 
that  devoted  personal  friendship  which  he  had  the  faculty 
to  inspire  in  so  marked  a  degree  among  the  ablest  and 
most  influential  leaders ;  this  leadership  was  of  immense 
consequence  in  bringing  about  the  result ;  but,  after  all, 
the  prime  factor  was  the  trust  in  and  devotion  to  him  felt 
by  the  great  mass  of  men  who  had  come  to  accept  him 
as  their  recognized  spokesman.  In  his  nomination  the 
national  convention  of  a  great  party  carried  into  effect 
in  good  faith  the  deliberate  judgment  of  that  party  as  to 
who  its  candidate  should  be. 

But  even  as  a  candidate  President  McKinley  was  far 
more  than  the  candidate  of  a  party,  and  as  President  he 
was  in  the  broadest  and  fullest  sense  the  President  of  all 
the  people  of  all  sections  of  the  country. 

His  first  nomination  came  to  him  because  of  the  quali 
ties  he  had  shown  in  healthy  and  open  political  leadership, 
the  leadership  which  by  word  and  deed  impresses  itself  as 
a  virile  force  for  good  upon  the  people  at  large  and  which 
has  nothing  in  common  with  mere  intrigue  or  manipula 
tion.  But  in  1896  the  issue  was  fairly  joined,  chiefly 
upon  a  question  which  as  a  party  question  was  entirely 
new,  so  that  the  old  lines  of  political  cleavage  were  in 
large  part  abandoned.  All  other  issues  sank  in  import 
ance  when  compared  with  the  vital  need  of  keeping  our 
financial  system  on  the  high  and  honorable  plane  impera 
tively  demanded  by  our  position  as  a  great  civilized 
power.  As  the  champion  of  such  a  principle  President 
McKinley  received  the  support  not  only  of  his  own 
party,  but  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  those  to  whom 
he  had  been  politically  opposed.  He  triumphed,  and  he 
made  good  with  scrupulous  fidelity  the  promises  upon 
which  the  campaign  was  won.  We  were  at  the  time  in  a 
period  of  great  industrial  depression,  and  it  was  promised 
for  and  on  behalf  of  McKinley  that  if  he  were  elected 


104  ADDRESSES 

our  financial  system  should  not  only  be  preserved  un 
harmed  but  improved  and  our  economic  system  shaped  in 
accordance  with  those  theories  which  have  always  marked 
our  periods  of  greatest  prosperity. 

The  promises  were  kept  and  following  their  keeping 
came  the  prosperity  which  we  now  enjoy.  All  that  was 
foretold  concerning  the  well-being  which  would  follow  the 
election  of  McKinley  has  been  justified  by  the  event. 
But,  as  so  often  happens  in  our  history,  the  President 
was  forced  to  face  questions  other  than  those  at  issue 
at  the  time  of  his  election.  Within  a  year  the  situation 
in  Cuba  had  become  literally  intolerable.  President  Mc 
Kinley  had  fought  too  well  in  his  youth,  he  knew  too 
well  at  first  hand  what  war  really  was,  lightly  to  enter 
into  a  struggle.  He  sought  by  every  honorable  means 
to  preserve  peace,  to  avert  war.  He  made  every  effort 
consistent  with  the  national  honor  to  bring  about  an 
amicable  settlement  of  the  Cuban  difficulty.  Then,  when 
it  became  evident  that  these  efforts  were  useless,  that 
peace  could  not  be  honorably  entertained,  he  devoted  his 
strength  to  making  the  war  as  short  and  as  decisive  as 
possible.  It  is  needless  to  tell  the  result  in  detail.  Suf 
fice  it  to  say  that  rarely  indeed  in  history  has  a  contest 
so  far-reaching  in  the  importance  of  its  outcome  been 
achieved  with  such  ease.  There  followed  a  harder  task. 
As  a  result  of  the  war  we  came  into  possession  of  Cuba, 
Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines.  In  each  island  the  con 
ditions  were  such  that  we  had  to  face  problems  entirely 
new  to  our  national  experience,  and,  moreover,  in  each 
island  or  group  of  islands  the  problems  differed  radically 
from  those  presented  in  the  others.  In  Porto  Rico  the 
task  was  simple.  The  island  could  not  be  independent. 
It  became  in  all  essentials  a  part  of  the  Union.  It  has 
been  given  all  the  benefits  of  our  economic  and  financial 
system.  Its  inhabitants  have  been  given  the  highest 
individual  liberty,  while  yet  their  government  has  been 


MCKINLEY' S  BIRTHDA  Y  105 

kept  under  the  supervision  of  officials  so  well  chosen  that 
the  island  can  be  appealed  to  as  affording  a  model  for  all 
such  experiments  in  the  future;  and  this  result  was 
mainly  owing  to  the  admirable  choice  of  instruments  by 
President  McKinley  when  he  selected  the  governing 
officials. 

In  Cuba,  where  we  were  pledged  to  give  the  island  in 
dependence,  the  pledge  was  kept  not  merely  in  letter  but 
in  spirit.  It  would  have  been  a  betrayal  of  our  duty  to 
have  given  Cuba  independence  out  of  hand.  President 
McKinley,  with  his  usual  singular  sagacity  in  the  choice 
of  agents,  selected  in  General  Leonard  Wood  the  man  of 
all  others  best  fit  to  bring  the  island  through  its  uncertain 
period  of  preparation  for  independence,  and  the  result  of 
his  wisdom  was  shown  when  last  May  the  island  became 
in  name  and  in  fact  a  free  republic,  for  it  started  with  a 
better  equipment  and  under  more  favorable  conditions 
than  had  ever  previously  been  the  case  with  any  Spanish- 
American  commonwealth. 

Finally,  in  the  Philippines,  the  problem  was  one  of 
great  complexity.  There  was  an  insurrectionary  party 
claiming  to  represent  the  people  of  the  islands  and  putting 
forth  their  claim  with  a  certain  speciousness  which  de 
ceived  no  small  number  of  excellent  men  here  at  home, 
and  which  afforded  to  yet  others  a  chance  to  arouse  a 
factious  party  spirit  against  the  President.  Of  course, 
looking  back,  it  is  now  easy  to  see  that  it  would  have 
been  both  absurd  and  wicked  to  abandon  the  Philippine 
Archipelago  and  let  the  scores  of  different  tribes — Chris 
tian,  Mohammedan,  and  pagan,  in  every  stage  of  semi- 
civilization  and  Asiatic  barbarism — turn  the  islands  into  a 
welter  of  bloody  savagery,  with  the  absolute  certainty 
that  some  strong  power  would  have  to  step  in  and  take 
possession.  But  though  now  it  is  easy  enough  to  see 
that  our  duty  was  to  stay  in  the  islands,  to  put  down 
the  insurrection  by  force  of  arms,  and  then  to  establish 


io6  ADDRESSES 

freedom-giving  civil  government,  it  needed  genuine  states 
manship  to  see  this  and  to  act  accordingly  at  the  time  of 
the  first  revolt.  A  weaker  and  less  far-sighted  man  than 
President  McKinley  would  have  shrunk  from  a  task  very 
difficult  in  itself,  and  certain  to  furnish  occasion  for  at 
tack  and  misrepresentation  no  less  than  for  honest  mis 
understanding.  But  President  McKinley  never  flinched. 
He  refused  to  consider  the  thought  of  abandoning  our 
duty  in  our  new  possessions.  While  sedulously  endeavor 
ing  to  act  with  the  utmost  humanity  toward  the  insurrec 
tionists,  he  never  faltered  in  the  determination  to  put 
them  down  by  force  of  arms,  alike  for  the  sake  of  our 
own  interest  and  honor,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  interest 
of  the  islanders,  and  particularly  of  the  great  numbers  of 
friendly  natives,  including  those  most  highly  civilized, 
for  whom  abandonment  by  us  would  have  meant  ruin 
and  death.  Again  his  policy  was  most  amply  vindicated. 
Peace  has  come  to  the  islands,  together  with  a  greater 
measure  of  individual  liberty  and  self-government  than 
they  have  ever  before  known.  All  the  tasks  set  us  as  a 
result  of  the  war  with  Spain  have  so  far  been  well  and 
honorably  accomplished,  and  as  a  result  this  nation  stands 
higher  than  ever  before  among  the  nations  of  mankind. 

President  McKinley's  second  campaign  was  fought 
mainly  on  the  issue  of  approving  what  he  had  done  in 
his  first  administration,  and  specifically  what  he  had  done 
as  regards  these  problems  springing  out  of  the  war  with 
Spain.  The  result  was  that  the  popular  verdict  in  his 
favor  was  more  overwhelming  than  it  had  been  before. 

No  other  President  in  our  history  has  seen  high  and 
honorable  effort  crowned  with  more  conspicuous  personal 
success.  No  other  President  entered  upon  his  second 
term  feeling  such  right  to  a  profound  and  peaceful  satis 
faction.  Then  by  a  stroke  of  horror,  so  strange  in  its 
fantastic  iniquity  as  to  stand  unique  in  the  black  annals 
of  crime,  he  was  struck  down.  The  brave,  strong,  gentle 


McKINLE  Y'S  BIR THDA  Y  107 

heart  was  stilled  forever,  and  word  was  brought  to  the 
woman  who  wept  that  she  was  to  walk  thenceforth  alone 
in  the  shadow.  The  hideous  infamy  of  the  deed  shocked 
the  nation  to  its  depths,  for  the  man  thus  struck  at  was 
in  a  peculiar  sense  the  champion  of  the  plain  people,  in  a 
peculiar  sense  the  representative  and  the  exponent  of  those 
ideals  which,  if  we  live  up  to  them,  will  make,  as  they 
have  largely  made,  our  country  a  blessed  refuge  for  all 
who  strive  to  do  right  and  to  live  their  lives  simply  and 
well  as  light  is  given  them.  The  nation  was  stunned,  and 
the  people  mourned  with  a  sense  of  bitter  bereavement 
because  they  had  lost  a  man  whose  heart  beat  for  them 
as  the  heart  of  Lincoln  once  had  beaten.  We  did  right 
to  mourn  ;  for  the  loss  was  ours,  not  his.  He  died  in  the 
golden  fulness  of  his  triumph.  He  died  victorious  in 
that  highest  of  all  kinds  of  strife — the  strife  for  an  ampler, 
juster,  and  more  generous  national  life.  For  him  the 
laurel;  but  woe  for  those  whom  he  left  behind;  woe  to 
the  nation  that  lost  him ;  and  woe  to  mankind  that  there 
should  exist  creatures  so  foul  that  one  among  them  should 
strike  at  so  noble  a  life ! 

We  are  gathered  together  to-night  to  recall  his  memory, 
to  pay  our  tribute  of  respect  to  the  great  chief  and  leader 
who  fell  in  the  harness,  who  was  stricken  down  while  his 
eyes  were  bright  with  "the  light  that  tells  of  triumph 
tasted."  We  can  honor  him  best  by  the  way  we  show  in 
actual  deed  that  we  have  taken  to  heart  the  lessons  of  his 
life.  We  must  strive  to  achieve,  each  in  the  measure 
that  he  can,  something  of  the  qualities  which  made  Presi 
dent  McKinley  a  leader  of  men,  a  mighty  power  for  good 
— his  strength,  his  courage,  his  courtesy  and  dignity,  his 
sense  of  justice,  his  ever-present  kindliness  and  regard  for 
the  rights  of  others.  He  won  greatness  by  meeting  and 
solving  the  issues  as  they  arose — not  by  shirking  them — 
meeting  them  with  wisdom,  with  the  exercise  of  the  most 
skilful  and  cautious  judgment,  but  with  fearless  resolution 


io8  ADDRESSES 

when  the  time  of  crisis  came.  He  met  each  crisis  on  its 
own  merits ;  he  never  sought  excuse  for  shirking  a  task  in 
the  fact  that  it  was  different  from  the  one  he  had  ex 
pected  to  face.  The  long  public  career,  which  opened 
when  as  a  boy  he  carried  a  musket  in  the  ranks  and  closed 
when  as  a  man  in  the  prime  of  his  intellectual  strength  he 
stood  among  the  world's  chief  statesmen,  came  to  what 
it  was  because  he  treated  each  triumph  as  opening  the 
road  to  fresh  effort,  not  as  an  excuse  for  ceasing  from 
effort.  He  undertook  mighty  tasks.  Some  of  them  he 
finished  completely;  others  we  must  finish;  and  there 
remain  yet  others  which  he  did  not  have  to  face,  but 
which  if  we  are  worthy  to  be  the  inheritors  of  his  prin 
ciples  we  will  in  our  turn  face  with  the  same  resolution, 
the  same  sanity,  the  same  unfaltering  belief  in  the  great 
ness  of  this  country,  and  unfaltering  championship  of  the 
rights  of  each  and  all  of  our  people,  which  marked  his 
high  and  splendid  career. 


XV 


AT  CARNEGIE  HALL,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.,  FEBRUARY 
26,  1903,  UPON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  BI 
CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  OF  THE  BIRTH 
OF  JOHN  WESLEY 

Mr.  Chairman,  ladies,  and  gentlemen  : 

I  am  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  addressing  this  repre 
sentative  body  of  the  great  church  which  Wesley  founded, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  commemoration  of  the  two  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  his  birth.  America,  moreover,  has 
a  peculiar  proprietary  claim  on  Wesley's  memory,  for  it 
is  on  our  continent  that  the  Methodist  Church  has  re 
ceived  its  greatest  development.  In  the  days  of  our 
Colonial  life  Methodism  was  not,  on  the  whole,  a  great 
factor  in  the  religious  and  social  life  of  the  people.  The 
Congregationalists  were  supreme  throughout  most  of  New 
England ;  the  Episcopalians  on  the  seaboard  from  New 
York  southward ;  while  the  Presbyterian  congregations 
were  most  numerous  along  what  was  then  the  entire 
western  frontier;  and  the  Quaker,  Catholic,  and  Dutch 
Reformed  churches  each  had  developments  in  special 
places.  The  great  growth  of  the  Methodist  Church,  like 
the  great  growth  of  the  Baptist  Church,  began  at  about 
the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  To-day  my  theme 
is  purely  Methodism. 

Since  the  days  of  the  Revolution  not  only  has  the 
Methodist  Church  increased  greatly  in  the  old  communi 
ties  of  the  thirteen  original  States,  but  it  has  played  a 

109 


i  io  ADDRESSES 

peculiar  and  prominent  part  in  the  pioneer  growth  of  our 
country  and  has  in  consequence  assumed  a  position  of 
immense  importance  throughout  the  vast  region  west  of 
the  Alleghanies  which  has  been  added  to  our  nation  since 
the  days  when  the  Continental  Congress  first  met. 

For  a  century  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the 
greatest  work  of  our  people, with  the  exception  only  of  the 
work  of  self-preservation  under  Lincoln,  was  the  work  of 
the  pioneers  as  they  took  possession  of  this  continent. 
During  that  century  we  pushed  westward  from  the  Alle 
ghanies  to  the  Pacific,  southward  to  the  Gulf  and  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  also  took  possession  of  Alaska.  The  work  of 
advancing  our  boundary,  of  pushing  the  frontier  across  for 
est  and  desert  and  mountain  chain,  was  the  great  typical 
work  of  our  nation ;  and  the  men  who  did  it — the  frontiers 
men,  the  pioneers,  the  backwoodsmen,  plainsmen,  moun 
tain  men — formed  a  class  by  themselves.  It  was  an  iron 
task,  which  none  but  men  of  iron  soul  and  iron  body  could 
do.  The  men  who  carried  it  to  a  successful  conclusion 
had  characters  strong  alike  for  good  and  for  evil.  Their 
rugged  natures  made  them  powers  who  served  light  or 
darkness  with  fierce  intensity;  and  together  with  heroic 
traits  they  had  those  evil  and  dreadful  tendencies  which 
are  but  too  apt  to  be  found  in  characters  of  heroic  possi 
bilities.  Such  men  make  the  most  efficient  servants  of 
the  Lord  if  their  abounding  vitality  and  energy  are 
directed  aright;  and  if  misdirected  their  influence  is 
equally  potent  against  the  cause  of  Christianity  and  true 
civilization.  In  the  hard  and  cruel  life  of  the  border, 
with  its  grim  struggle  against  the  forbidding  forces  of 
wild  nature  and  wilder  men,  there  was  much  to  pull  the 
frontiersman  down.  If  left  to  himself,  without  moral 
teaching  and  moral  guidance,  without  any  of  the  influ 
ences  that  tend  toward  the  uplifting  of  man  and  the  sub 
duing  of  the  brute  within  him,  sad  would  have  been  his, 
and  therefore  our,  fate.  From  this  fate  we  have  been 


CARNEGIE  HALL,  NEW  YORK  in 

largely  rescued  by  the  fact  that  together  with  the  rest  of 
the  pioneers  went  the  pioneer  preachers ;  and  all  honor 
be  given  to  the  Methodists  for  the  great  proportion  of 
these  pioneer  preachers  whom  they  furnished. 

These  preachers  were  of  the  stamp  of  old  Peter  Cart- 
wright — men  who  suffered  and  overcame  every  hardship 
in  common  with  their  flock,  and  who  in  addition  tamed 
the  wild  and  fierce  spirits  of  their  fellow-pioneers.  It  was 
not  a  task  that  could  have  been  accomplished  by  men 
desirous  to  live  in  the  soft  places  of  the  earth  and  to  walk 
easily  on  life's  journey.  They  had  to  possess  the  spirit  of 
the  martyrs ;  but  not  of  martyrs  who  could  merely  suffer, 
not  of  martyrs  who  could  oppose  only  passive  endurance 
to  wrong.  The  pioneer  preachers  warred  against  the 
forces  of  spiritual  evil  with  the  same  fiery  zeal  and  energy 
that  they  and  their  fellows  showed  in  the  conquest  of  the 
rugged  continent.  They  had  in  them  the  heroic  spirit, 
the  spirit  that  scorns  ease  if  it  must  be  purchased  by 
failure  to  do  duty,  the  spirit  that  courts  risk  and  a  life  of 
hard  endeavor  if  the  goal  to  be  reached  is  really  worth 
attaining.  Great  is  our  debt  to  these  men  and  scant  the 
patience  we  need  show  toward  their  critics.  At  times 
they  seemed  hard  and  narrow  to  those  whose  training  and 
surroundings  had  saved  them  from  similar  temptations; 
and  they  have  been  criticised,  as  all  men,  whether  mis 
sionaries,  soldiers,  explorers,  or  frontier  settlers,  are 
criticised  when  they  go  forth  to  do  the  rough  work  that 
must  inevitably  be  done  by  those  who  act  as  the  first 
harbingers,  the  first  heralds,  of  civilization  in  the  world's 
dark  places.  It  is  easy  for  those  who  stay  at  home  in 
comfort,  who  never  have  to  see  humanity  in  the  raw,  or 
to  strive  against  the  dreadful  naked  forces  which  appear 
clothed,  hidden,  and  subdued  in  civilized  life — it  is  easy 
for  such  to  criticise  the  men  who,  in  rough  fashion,  and 
amid  grim  surroundings,  make  ready  the  way  for  the 
higher  life  that  is  to  come  afterwards;  but  let  us  all 


112  ADDRESSES 

remember  that  the  untempted  and  the  effortless  should 
be  cautious  in  passing  too  heavy  judgment  upon  their 
brethren  who  may  show  hardness,  who  may  be  guilty  of 
shortcomings,  but  who  nevertheless  do  the  great  deeds 
by  which  mankind  advances.  These  pioneers  of  Method 
ism  had  the  strong,  militant  virtues  which  go  to  the 
accomplishment  of  such  great  deeds.  Now  and  then 
they  betrayed  the  shortcomings  natural  to  men  of  their 
type;  but  their  shortcomings  seem  small  indeed  when 
we  place  beside  them  the  magnitude  of  the  work  they 
achieved. 

And  now,  friends,  in  celebrating  the  wonderful  growth 
of  Methodism,  in  rejoicing  at  the  good  it  has  done  to  the 
country  and  to  mankind,  I  need  hardly  ask  a  body  like 
this  to  remember  that  the  greatness  of  the  fathers  be 
comes  to  the  children  a  shameful  thing  if  they  use  it  only 
as  an  excuse  for  inaction  instead  of  as  a  spur  to  effort  for 
noble  aims.  I  speak  to  you  not  only  as  Methodists — I 
speak  to  you  as  American  citizens.  The  pioneer  days 
are  over.  We  now  all  of  us  form  parts  of  a  great  civilized 
nation,  with  a  complex  industrial  and  social  life  and  in 
finite  possibilities  both  for  good  and  for  evil.  The  instru 
ments  with  which,  and  the  surroundings  in  which,  we 
work,  have  changed  immeasurably  from  what  they  were 
in  the  days  when  the  rough  backwoods  preachers  minis 
tered  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  needs  of  their  rough 
backwoods  congregations.  But  if  we  are  to  succeed,  the 
spirit  in  which  we  do  our  work  must  be  the  same  as  the 
spirit  in  which  they  did  theirs,  These  men  drove  for 
ward,  and  fought  their  way  upward,  to  success,  because 
their  sense  of  duty  was  in  their  hearts,  in  the  very  mar 
row  of  their  bones.  It  was  not  with  them  something  to 
be  considered  as  a  mere  adjunct  to  their  theology,  stand 
ing  separate  and  apart  from  their  daily  life.  They  had  it 
with  them  week  days  as  well  as  Sundays.  They  did  not 
divorce  the  spiritual  from  the  secular.  They  did  not 


CARNEGIE  HALL,  NEW  YORK  113 

have  one  kind  of  conscience  for  one  side  of  their  lives  and 
another  for  another. 

If  we  are  to  succeed  as  a  nation  we  must  have  the 
same  spirit  in  us.  '  We  must  be  absolutely  practical,  of 
course,  and  must  face  facts  as  they  are.  The  pioneer 
preachers  of  Methodism  could  not  have  held  their  own 
for  a  fortnight  if  they  had  not  shown  an  intense  practi 
cality  of  spirit,  if  they  had  not  possessed  the  broadest  and 
deepest  sympathy  for,  and  understanding  of,  their  fellow- 
men.  But  in  addition  to  the  hard,  practical  common- 
sense  needed  by  each  of  us  in  life,  we  must  have  a  lift 
toward  lofty  things  or  we  shall  be  lost,  individually,  and 
collectively  as  a  nation.  Life  is  not  easy,  and  least  of  all 
is  it  easy  for  either  the  man  or  the  nation  that  aspires  to 
do  great  deeds.  In  the  century  opening,  the  play  of  the 
infinitely  far-reaching  forces  and  tendencies  which  go  to 
make  up  our  social  system  bids  fair  to  be  even  fiercer  in 
its  activity  than  in  the  century  which  has  just  closed.  If 
during  this  century  the  men  of  high  and  fine  moral  sense 
show  themselves  weaklings ;  if  they  possess  only  that 
cloistered  virtue  which  shrinks  shuddering  from  contact 
with  the  raw  facts  of  actual  life ;  if  they  dare  not  go  down 
into  the  hurly-burly  where  the  men  of  might  contend  for 
the  mastery ;  if  they  stand  aside  from  the  pressure  and 
conflict ;  then  as  surely  as  the  sun  rises  and  sets  all  of 
our  great  material  progress,  all  the  multiplication  of  the 
physical  agencies  which  tend  for  our  comfort  and  enjoy 
ment,  will  go  for  naught  and  our  civilization  will  become 
a  brutal  sham  and  mockery.  If  we  are  to  do  as  I  believe 
we  shall  and  will  do,  if  we  are  to  advance  in  broad 
humanity,  in  kindliness,  in  the  spirit  of  brotherhood, 
exactly  as  we  advance  in  our  conquest  over  the  hidden 
forces  of  nature,  it  must  be  by  developing  strength  in 
virtue  and  virtue  in  strength,  by  breeding  and  training 
men  who  shall  be  both  good  and  strong,  both  gentle  and 
valiant — men  who  scorn  wrong-doing  and  who  at  the  same 


U4  ADDRESSES 

time  have  both  the  courage  and  the  strength  to  strive 
mightily  for  the  right.  Wesley  accomplished  so  much  for 
mankind  because  he  refused  to  leave  the  stronger,  man 
lier  qualities  to  be  availed  of  only  in  the  interest  of  evil. 
The  church  he  founded  has  throughout  its  career  been  a 
church  for  the  poor  as  well  as  for  the  rich  and  has  known 
no  distinction  of  persons.  It  has  been  a  church  whose 
members,  if  true  to  the  teachings  of  its  founder,  have 
sought  for  no  greater  privilege  than  to  spend  and  be  spent 
in  the  interest  of  the  higher  life,  who  have  prided  them 
selves,  not  on  shirking  rough  duty,  but  on  undertaking  it 
and  carrying  it  to  a  successful  conclusion. 

I  come  here  to-night  to  greet  you  and  to  pay  my  tribute 
to  your  past  because  you  have  deserved  well  of  mankind, 
because  you  have  striven  with  strength  and  courage  to 
bring  nearer  the  day  when  peace  and  justice  shall  obtain 
among  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 


XVI 

AT  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS,  APRIL  2,   1903 

Mr.  Chairman,  ladies,  and  gentlemen  : 

To-day  I  wish  to  speak  to  you,  not  merely  about  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  but  about  our  entire  position  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere  —  a  position  so  peculiar  and  pre 
dominant  that  out  of  it  has  grown  the  acceptance  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  as  a  cardinal  feature  of  our  foreign 
policy;  and  in  particular  I  wish  to  point  out  what  has 
been  done  during  the  lifetime  of  the  last  Congress  to 
make  good  our  position  in  accordance  with  this  historic 
policy. 

Ever  since  the  time  when  we  definitely  extended  our 
boundaries  westward  to  the  Pacific  and  southward  to  the 
Gulf,  since  the  time  when  the  old  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
colonies  to  the  south  of  us  asserted  their  independence, 
our  nation  has  insisted  that  because  of  its  primacy  in 
strength  among  the  nations  of  the  Western  Hemisphere 
it  has  certain  duties  and  responsibilities  which  oblige  it  to 
take  a  leading  part  thereon.  We  hold  that  our  interests 
in  this  hemisphere  are  greater  than  those  of  any  European 
power  possibly  can  be,  and  that  our  duty  to  ourselves 
and  to  the  weaker  republics  who  are  our  neighbors  re 
quires  us  to  see  that  none  of  the  great  military  powers 
from  across  the  seas  shall  encroach  upon  the  territory  of 
the  American  republics  or  acquire  control  thereover. 

This  policy,  therefore,  not  only  forbids  us  to  acquiesce 
in  such  territorial  acquisition,  but  also  causes  us  to  object 


u6  ADDRESSES 

to  the  acquirement  of  a  control  which  would  in  its  effect 
bejequal  to  territorial  aggrandizement.  This  is  why  the 
United  States  has  steadily  believed  that  the  construction 
of  the  great  Isthmian  canal,  the  building  of  which  is  to 
stand  as  the  greatest  material  feat  of  the  twentieth  cen 
tury, —  greater  than  any  similar  feat  in  any  preceding 
century, — should  be  done  by  no  foreign  nation  but  by 
ourselves.  \  The  canal  must  of  necessity  go  through  the 
territory  of  one  of  our  smaller  sister  republics.  We  have 
been  scrupulously  careful  to  abstain  from  perpetrating 
any  wrong  upon  any  of  these  republics  in  this  matter. 
We  do  not  wish  to  interfere  with  their  rights  in  the  least, 
but,  while  carefully  safeguarding  them,  to  build  the  canal 
ourselves  under  provisions  which  will  enable  us,  if  neces 
sary,  to  police  and  protect  it,  and  to  guarantee  its  neu 
trality,  we  being  the  sole  guarantor.  Our  intention  was 
steadfast ;  we  desired  action  taken  so  that  the  canal  could 
always  be  used  by  us  in  time  of  peace  and  war  alike,  and 
in  time  of  war  could  never  be  used  to  our  detriment  by 
any  nation  which  was  hostile  to  us.  Such  action,  by  the 
circumstances  surrounding  it,  was  necessarily  for  the 
benefit  and  not  the  detriment  of  the  adjacent  American 
republics. 

After  considerably  more  than  half  of  a  century  these 
objects  have  been  exactly  fulfilled  by  the  legislation  and 
treaties  of  the  last  two  years.  Two  years  ago  we  were 
no  further  advanced  toward  the  construction  of  the 
Isthmian  canal  on  our  terms  than  we  had  been  during 
the  preceding  eighty  years.  By  the  Hay-Pauncefote 
treaty,  ratified  in  December,  1901,  an  old  treaty  with 
Great  Britain,  which  had  been  held  to  stand  in  the  way, 
was  abrogated  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  canal  should  be 
constructed  under  the  auspices  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  this  Government  should  have 
the  exclusive  right  to  regulate  and  manage  it,  becoming 
the  sole  guarantor  of  its  neutrality. 


CHICAGO  117 

It  was  expressly  stipulated,  furthermore,  that  this 
guaranty  of  neutrality  should  not  prevent  the  United 
States  from  taking  any  measures  which  it  found  necessary 
in  order  to  secure  by  its  own  forces  the  defence  of  the 
United  States  and  the  maintenance  of  public  order.  Im 
mediately  following  this  treaty  Congress  passed  a  law 
under  which  the  President  was  authorized  to  endeavor  to 
secure  a  treaty  for  acquiring  the  right  to  finish  the  con 
struction  of,  and  to  operate,  the  Panama  Canal,  which 
had  already  been  begun  in  the  territory  of  Colombia  by  a 
French  company.  The  rights  of  this  company  were  ac 
cordingly  obtained  and  a  treaty  negotiated  with  the  Re 
public  of  Colombia.  This  treaty  has  just  been  ratified 
by  the  Senate.  It  reserves  all  of  Colombia's  rights, 
while  guaranteeing  all  of  our  own  and  those  of  neutral 
nations,  and  specifically  permits  us  to  take  any  and  all 
measures  for  the  defence  of  the  canal,  and  for  the  pres 
ervation  of  our  interests,  whenever  in  our  judgment  an 
exigency  may  arise  which  calls  for  action  on  our  part. 
In  other  words,  these  two  treaties,  and  the  legislation  to 
carry  them  out,  have  resulted  in  our  obtaining  on  exactly 
the  terms  we  desired  the  rights  and  privileges  which  we 
had  so  long  sought  in  vain.  These  treaties  are  among 
the  most  important  that  we  have  ever  negotiated  in  their 
effects  upon  the  future  welfare  of  this  country,  and  mark 
a  memorable  triumph  of  American  diplomacy — one  of 
those  fortunate  triumphs,  moreover,  which  redound  to 
the  benefit  of  the  entire  world. 

About  the  same  time  trouble  arose  in  connection  with 
the  Republic  of  Venezuela  because  of  certain  wrongs 
alleged  to  have  been  committed,  and  debts  overdue,  by 
this  republic  to  citizens  of  various  foreign  powers,  notably 
England,  Germany,  and  Italy.  After  failure  to  reach  an 
agreement,  these  powers  began  a  blockade  of  the  Venezue- 
'an  coast  and  a  condition  of  quasi-war  ensued.  The  con- 
ern  of  our  Government  was  of  course  not  to  interfere 


ii8  ADDRESSES 

needlessly  in  any  quarrel  so  far  as  it  did  not  touch  our 
interests  or  our  honor,  and  not  to  take  the  attitude  of 
protecting  from  coercion  any  power  unless  we  were  will 
ing  to  espouse  the  quarrel  of  that  power,  but  to  keep  an 
attitude  of  watchful  vigilance  and  see  that  there  was  no 
infringement  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine — no  acquirement  of 
territorial  rights  by  a  European  power  at  the  expense  of 
a  weak  sister  republic  —  whether  this  acquisition  might 
take  the  shape  of  an  outright  and  avowed  seizure  of  ter 
ritory  or  of  the  exercise  of  control  which  would  in  effect 
be  equivalent  to  such  seizure.  This  attitude  was  ex 
pressed  in  the  two  following  published  memoranda,  the 
first  being  the  letter  addressed  by  the  Secretary  of  State 
to  the  German  Ambassador,  the  second  the  conversation 
with  the  Secretary  of  State  reported  by  the  British 
Ambassador : 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 
WASHINGTON,  December  16,  1901. 

His  EXCELLENCY,  DR.  VON  HOLLEBEN,  etc. : 

DEAR  EXCELLENCY:  I  inclose  a  memorandum  by  way  of 
reply  to  that  which  you  did  me  the  honor  to  leave  with  me  on 
Saturday,  and  am,  as  ever, 

Faithfully  yours, 

JOHN  HAY. 

Memorandum 

The  President  in  his  message  of  the  3d  of  December,  1901, 
used  the  following  language: 

"The  Monroe  Doctrine  is  a  declaration  that  there  must  be 
no  territorial  aggrandizement  by  any  non-American  power  at 
the  expense  of  any  American  power  on  American  soil.  It  is 
in  no  wise  intended  as  hostile  to  any  nation  in  the  Old  World." 

The  President  further  said : 

"This  doctrine  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  commercial  rela 
tions  of  any  American  power,  save  that  it  in  truth  allows  each 
of  them  to  form  such  as  it  desires.  .  .  .  We  do  not  gua=> 
antee  any  state  against  punishment  if  it  misconducts  itsel  t 


CHICAGO  119 

provided  that  punishment  does  not  take  the  form  of  the  ac 
quisition  of  territory  by  any  non- American  power." 

His  Excellency  the  German  Ambassador,  on  his  recent 
return  from  Berlin,  conveyed  personally  to  the  President  the 
assurance  of  the  German  Emperor  that  His  Majesty's  Govern 
ment  had  no  purpose  or  intention  to  make  even  the  smallest 
acquisition  of  territory  on  the  South  American  continent  or 
the  islands  adjacent.  This  voluntary  and  friendly  declaration 
was  afterwards  repeated  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  was  re 
ceived  by  the  President  and  the  people  of  the  United  States 
in  the  frank  and  cordial  spirit  in  which  it  was  offered.  In 
the  memorandum  of  the  nth  of  December,  His  Excellency 
the  German  Ambassador  repeats  these  assurances  as  follows: 
"We  declare  especially  that  under  no  circumstances  do  we 
consider  in  our  proceedings  the  acquisition  or  the  permanent 
occupation  of  Venezuelan  territory." 

In  the  said  memorandum  of  the  nth  of  December,  the 
German  Government  informs  that  of  the  United  States  that  it 
has  certain  just  claims  for  money  and  for  damages  wrongfully 
withheld  from  German  subjects  by  the  Government  of  Venez 
uela,  and  that  it  proposes  to  take  certain  coercive  measures 
described  in  the  memorandum  to  enforce  the  payment  of  these 
just  claims. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  appreciating  the  cour 
tesy  of  the  German  Government  in  making  him  acquainted 
with  the  state  of  affairs  referred  to,  and  not  regarding  himself 
as  called  upon  to  enter  into  the  consideration  of  the  claims  in 
question,  believes  that  no  measures  will  be  taken  in  this  matter 
by  the  agents  of  the  German  Government  which  are  not  in 
accordance  with  the  well-known  purpose,  above  set  forth,  of 
His  Majesty  the  German  Emperor. 

Sir  Michael  Herbert  to  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne: 

WASHINGTON,  November  13,  1902. 

I  communicated  to  Mr.  Hay  this  morning  the  substance  of 
Your  Lordship's  telegram  of  the  nth  instant. 

His  Excellency  stated  in  reply,  that  the  United  States  Gov 
ernment,  although  they  regretted  that  European  powers  should 


120  ADDRESSES 

use  force  against  Central  and  South  American  countries,  could 
not  object  to  their  taking  steps  to  obtain  redress  for  injuries 
suffered  by  their  subjects,  provided  that  no  acquisition  of 
territory  was  contemplated. 

Both  powers  assured  us  in  explicit  terms  that  there 
was  not  the  slightest  intention  on  their  part  to  violate 
the  principles  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  this  assurance 
was  kept  with  an  honorable  good  faith  which  merits  full 
acknowledgment  on  our  part.  At  the  same  time,  the 
existence  of  hostilities  in  a  region  so  near  our  own  borders 
was  fraught  with  such  possibilities  of  danger  in  the  future 
that  it  was  obviously  no  less  our  duty  to  ourselves  than 
our  duty  to  humanity  to  endeavor  to  put  an  end  to  that. 
Accordingly,  by  an  offer  of  our  good  services  in  a  spirit 
of  frank  friendliness  to  all  the  parties  concerned,  a  spirit 
in  which  they  quickly  and  cordially  responded,  we  secured 
a  resumption  of  peace — the  contending  parties  agreeing 
that  the  matters  which  they  could  not  settle  among 
themselves  should  be  referred  to  The  Hague  Tribunal 
for  settlement.  The  United  States  had  most  fortunately 
already  been  able  to  set  an  example  to  other  nations  by 
utilizing  the  great  possibilities  for  good  contained  in  The 
Hague  Tribunal,  a  question  at  issue  between  ourselves 
and  the  Republic  of  Mexico  being  the  first  submitted  to 
this  international  court  of  arbitration. 

The  terms  which  we  have  secured  as  those  under  which 
the  Isthmian  canal  is  to  be  built,  and  the  course  of  events 
in  the  Venezuela  matter,  have  shown  not  merely  the  ever 
growing  influence  of  the  United  States  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  but  also,  I  think  I  may  safely  say,  have 
exemplified  the  firm  purpose  of  the  United  States  that 
its  growth  and  influence  and  power  shall  redound  not  to 
the  harm  but  to  the  benefit  of  our  sister  republics  whose 
strength  is  less.  Our  growth,  therefore,  is  beneficial  to 
human  kind  in  general.  We  do  not  intend  to  assume 


CHICAGO  121 

any  position  which  can  give  just  offence  to  our  neighbors. 
Our  adherence  to  the  rule  of  human  right  is  not  merely 
profession.  The  history  of  our  dealings  with  Cuba  shows 
that  we  reduce  it  to  performance. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  is  not  international  law,  andy 
though  I  think  one  day  it  may  become  such,  this  is  not , 
necessary  as  long  as  it  remains  a  cardinal  feature  of  our 
foreign  policy  and  as  long  as  we  possess  both  the  will  and1 
the  strength  to  make  it  effective.  This  last  point,  myj 
fellow-citizens,  is  all  important,  and  is  one  which  as  a 
people  we  can  never  afford  to  forget.  I  believe  in  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  with  all  my  heart  and  soul;  I  am  con 
vinced  that  the  immense  majority  of  our  fellow-country 
men  so  believe  in  it ;  but  I  would  infinitely  prefer  to  see 
us  abandon  it  than  to  see  us  put  it  forward  and  bluster 
about  it,  and  yet  fail  to  build  up  the  efficient  fighting 
strength  which  in  the  last  resort  can  alone  make  it  re 
spected  by  any  strong  foreign  power  whose  interest  it 
may  ever  happen  to  be  to  violate  it. 

Boasting  and  blustering  are  as  objectionable  among 
nations  as  among  individuals,  and  the  public  men  of  a 
great  nation  owe  it  to  their  sense  of  national  self-respect 
to  speak  courteously  of  foreign  powers,  just  as  a  brave 
and  self-respecting  man  treats  all  around  him  courteously. 
But  though  to  boast  is  bad,  and  causelessly  to  insult 
another,  worse;  yet  worse  than  all  is  it  to  be  guilty  of 
boasting,  even  without  insult,  and  when  called  to  the 
proof  to  be  unable  to  make  such  boasting  good.  There 
is  a  homely  old  adage  which  runs:  "Speak  softly  and 
carry  a  big  stick;  you  will  go  far."  If  the  American 
nation  will  speak  softly,  and  yet  build,  and  keep  at  a 
pitch  of  the  highest  training,  a  thoroughly  efficient  navy, 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  will  go  far.  I  ask  you  to  think 
over  this.  If  you  do,  you  will  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  mere  plain  common-sense,  so  obviously  sound 
that  only  the  blind  can  fail  to  see  its  truth  and  only  the 


122  ADDRESSES 

weakest  and  most  irresolute  can  fail  to  desire  to  put  it 
into  force. 

In  the  last  two  years  I  am  happy  to  say  we  have 
taken  long  strides  in  advance  as  regards  our  navy.  The 
last  Congress,  in  addition  to  smaller  vessels,  provided  nine 
of  those  formidable  fighting  ships  upon  which  the  real 
efficiency  of  any  navy  in  war  ultimately  depends.  It 
provided,  moreover,  for  the  necessary  addition  of  officers 
and  enlisted  men  to  make  the  ships  worth  having.  Mean 
while  the  Navy  Department  has  seen  to  it  that  our  ships 
have  been  constantly  exercised  at  sea,  with  the  great  guns, 
and  in  manoeuvres,  so  that  their  efficiency  as  fighting 
units,  both  individually  and  when  acting  together,  has 
been  steadily  improved.  Remember  that  all  of  this  is 
necessary.  A  warship  is  a  huge  bit  of  mechanism,  well- 
nigh  as  delicate  and  complicated  as  it  is  formidable.  It 
takes  years  to  build  it.  It  takes  years  to  teach  the  officers 
and  men  how  to  handle  it  to  good  advantage.  It  is  an 
absolute  impossibility  to  improvise  a  navy  at  the  outset 
of  war.  No  recent  war  between  any  two  nations  has 
lasted  as  long  as  it  takes  to  build  a  battleship ;  and  it  is 
just  as  impossible  to  improvise  the  officers  or  the  crews  as 
to  improvise  the  navy. 

To  lay  up  a  battleship  and  only  send  it  afloat  at  the 
outset  of  a  war,  with  a  raw  crew  and  untried  officers, 
would  be  not  merely  a  folly  but  a  crime,  for  it  would 
invite  both  disaster  and  disgrace.  The  navy  which  so 
quickly  decided  in  our  favor  the  war  in  1898  had  been 
built  and  made  efficient  during  the  preceding  fifteen 
years.  The  ships  that  triumphed  off  Manila  and  Santi 
ago  had  been  built  under  previous  Administrations  with 
money  appropriated  by  previous  Congresses.  The  offi 
cers  and  the  men  did  their  duty  so  well  because  they  had 
already  been  trained  to  it  by  long  sea  service.  All  honor 
to  the  gallant  officers  and  gallant  men  who  actually  did 
the  fighting;  but  remember,  too,  to  honor  the  public 


CHICAGO  123 

men,  the  shipwrights  and  steel-workers,  the  owners  of 
the  shipyards  and  armor  plants,  to  whose  united  fore 
sight  and  exertion  we  owe  it  that  in  1898  we  had  craft  so 
good,  guns  so  excellent,  and  American  seamen  of  so  high 
a  type  in  the  conning  towers,  in  the  gun  turrets,  and  in 
the  engine-rooms.  It  is  too  late  to  prepare  for  war  when 
war  has  come;  and  if  we  only  prepare  sufficiently  no  war 
will  ever  come.  We  wish  a  powerful  and  efficient  navy, 
not  for  purposes  of  war,  but  as  the  surest  guaranty  of 
peace.  If  we  have  such  a  navy — if  we  keep  on  building 
it  up — we  may  rest  assured  that  there  is  but  the  smallest 
chance  that  trouble  will  ever  come  to  this  nation ;  and  we 
may  likewise  rest  assured  that  no  foreign  power  will  ever 
quarrel  with  us  about  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 


XVII 

AT  WAUKESHA,  WISCONSIN,  APRIL  3,   1903 

Gentlemen  and  ladies,  my  fellow -citizens  of  Wisconsin  : 

You  are  men  and  women  of  Wisconsin,  but  you  are 
men  and  women  of  America  first.  I  am  glad  of  having 
the  chance  of  saying  a  few  words  to  you  to-day.  I  be 
lieve  with  all  my  heart  in  this  nation  playing  its  part 
manfully  and  well.  I  believe  that  we  are  now,  at  the 
outset  of  the  twentieth  century,  face  to  face  with  great 
world  problems ;  that  we  cannot  help  playing  the  part  of 
a  great  world  power;  that  all  we  can  decide  is  whether 
we  will  play  it  well  or  ill.  I  do  not  want  to  see  us  shrink 
from  any  least  bit  of  duty.  We  have  not  only  taken 
during  the  past  five  years  a  position  of  even  greater  im 
portance  in  this  Western  Hemisphere  than  ever  before, 
but  we  have  taken  a  position  of  great  importance  even  in 
the  furthest  Orient,  in  that  furthest  West,  which  is  the 
immemorial  East.  We  must  hold  our  own.  If  we  show 
ourselves  weaklings  we  will  earn  the  contempt  of  man 
kind,  and — what  is  of  far  more  consequence — our  own 
contempt ;  but  I  would  like  to  impress  upon  every  public 
man,  upon  every  writer  in  the  press,  the  fact  that  strength 
should  go  hand  in  hand  with  courtesy,  with  scrupulous 
regard  in  word  and  deed,  not  only  for  the  rights,  but  for 
the  feelings,  of  other  nations.  I  want  to  see  a  man  able 
to  hold  his  own.  I  have  no  respect  for  the  man  who  will 
put  up  with  injustice.  If  a  man  will  not  take  his  part, 
the  part  is  not  worth  taking.  That  is  true.  On  the 

124 


WAUKESHA  12$ 

other  hand,  I  have  a  hearty  contempt  for  the  man  who 
is  always  walking  about  waiting  to  pick  a  quarrel,  and 
above  all,  wanting  to  say  something  unpleasant  about 
some  one  else.  He  is  not  an  agreeable  character  any 
where  ;  and  the  fact  that  he  talks  loud  does  not  necessarily 
mean  that  he  fights  hard  either.  Sometimes  you  will  see 
a  man  who  will  talk  loud  and  fight  hard ;  but  he  does  not 
fight  hard  because  he  talks  loud,  but  in  spite  of  it.  I 
want  the  same  thing  to  be  true  of  us  as  a  nation.  I  am 
always  sorry  whenever  I  see  any  reflection  that  seems  to 
come  from  America  upon  any  friendly  nation.  To  write 
or  say  anything  unkind,  unjust,  or  inconsiderate  about 
any  foreign  nation  does  not  do  us  any  good,  and  does  not 
help  us  toward  holding  our  own  if  ever  the  need  should 
arise  to  hold  our  own.  I  am  sure  you  will  not  misunder 
stand  me ;  I  am  sure  that  it  is  needless  for  me  to  say  that 
I  do  not  believe  the  United  States  should  ever  suffer  a 
wrong.  I  should  be  the  first  to  ask  that  we  resent  a  wrong 
from  the  strong,  just  as  I  should  be  the  first  to  insist  that 
we  do  not  wrong  the  weak.  As  a  nation,  if  we  are  to  be 
true  to  our  past,  we  must  steadfastly  keep  these  two 
positions — to  submit  to  no  injury  by  the  strong  and  to 
inflict  no  injury  on  the  weak.  It  is  not  at  all  necessary 
to  say  disagreeable  things  about  the  strong  in  order  to 
impress  them  with  the  fact  that  we  do  not  intend  to  sub 
mit  to  injury.  Keep  our  navy  up  to  the  highest  point  of 
efficiency ;  have  good  ships,  and  enough  of  them ;  have 
the  officers  and  the  enlisted  men  on  them  trained  to 
handle  them,  so  that  in  the  future  the  American  navy 
shall  rise  level,  whenever  the  need  comes,  to  the  standard 
it  has  set  in  the  past.  Keep  in  our  hearts  the  rugged, 
manly  virtues,  which  have  made  our  people  formidable  as 
foes,  and  valuable  as  friends  throughout  the  century  and 
a  quarter  of  our  national  life.  Do  all  that ;  and  having 
done  it,  remember  that  it  is  a  sensible  thing  to  speak 
courteously  of  others. 


126  ADDRESSES 

I  believe  in  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  I  shall  try  to  see 
that  this  nation  lives  up  to  it ;  and  as  long  as  I  am  Presi 
dent  it  will  be  lived  up  to.  But  I  do  not  intend  to  make 
the  doctrine  an  excuse  or  a  justification  for  being  un 
pleasant  to  other  powers,  for  speaking  ill  of  other  pow 
ers.  We  want  the  friendship  of  mankind.  We  want  to 
get  on  well  with  the  other  nations  of  mankind,  with  the 
small  nations  and  with  the  big  nations.  We  want  so  to 
carry  ourselves  that  if  (which  I  think  most  unlikely)  any 
quarrel  should  arise,  it  would  be  evident  that  it  was  not 
a  quarrel  of  our  own  seeking,  but  one  that  was  forced 
on  us.  If  it  is  forced  on  us,  I  know  you  too  well  not 
to  know  that  you  will  stand  up  to  it  if  the  need  comes ; 
but  you  will  stand  up  to  it  all  the  better  if  you  have  not 
blustered  or  spoken  ill  of  other  nations  in  advance.  We 
want  friendship ;  we  want  peace.  We  wish  well  to  the 
nations  of  mankind.  We  look  with  joy  at  any  prosperity 
of  theirs,  we  wish  them  success,  not  failure.  We  rejoice 
as  mankind  moves  forward  over  the  whole  earth.  Each 
nation  has  its  own  difficulties.  We  have  difficulties 
enough  at  home.  Let  us  improve  ourselves,  lifting  what 
needs  to  be  lifted  here,  and  let  others  do  their  own ;  let 
us  attend  to  our  own,  keep  our  own  hearthstone  swept 
and  in  order.  Do  not  shirk  any  duty ;  do  not  shirk  any 
difficulty  that  is  forced  upon  us,  but  do  not  invite  it  by 
foolish  language.  Do  not  assume  a  quarrelsome  and  un 
pleasant  attitude  toward  other  people.  Let  the  friendly 
expressions  of  foreign  powers  be  accepted  as  tokens  of 
their  sincere  good-will,  and  reflecting  their  real  senti 
ments;  and  let  us  avoid  any  language  on  our  part  which 
might  tend  to  turn  their  good-will  into  ill-will.  All  that 
is  mere  common-sense;  the  kind  of  common-sense  that 
we  apply  in  our  own  lives,  man  to  man,  neighbor  to 
neighbor ;  and  remember  that  substantially  what  is  true 
among  nations,  is  true  on  a  small  scale  among  ourselves. 
The  man  who  is  a  weakling,  who  is  a  coward,  we  all  de- 


WA  UKESHA  127 

spise,  and  we  ought  to  despise  him.  If  a  man  cannot  do 
his  own  work  and  take  his  own  part,  he  does  not  count ; 
and  I  have  no  patience  with  those  who  would  have  the 
United  States  unable  to  take  its  own  part,  to  do  its  work 
in  the  world.  But  remember  that  a  loose  tongue  is  just 
as  unfortunate  an  accompaniment  for  a  nation  as  for  an 
individual.  The  man  who  talks  ill  of  his  neighbors,  the 
man  who  invites  trouble  for  himself  and  them,  is  a  nuis 
ance.  The  stronger,  the  more  self-confident  the  nation  is, 
the  more  carefully  it  should  guard  its  speech  as  well  as  its 
action,  and  should  make  it  a  point,  in  the  interest  of  its 
own  self-respect,  to  see  that  it  does  not  say  what  it  cannot 
made  good,  that  it  avoids  giving  needless  offence,  that  it 
shows  genuinely  and  sincerely  its  desire  for  friendship 
with  the  rest  of  mankind,  but  that  it  keeps  itself  in  shape 
to  make  its  weight  felt  should  the  need  arise. 

That  is  in  substance  my  theory  of  what  our  foreign 
policy  should  be.  Let  us  not  boast,  not  insult  any  one, 
but  make  up  our  minds  coolly  what  it  is  necessary  to  say, 
say  it,  and  then  stand  to  it,  whatever  the  consequences 
may  be. 


XVIII 
AT  MILWAUKEE,  WISCONSIN,  APRIL  3,   1903 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  gentlemen  : 

To-day  I  wish  to  speak  to  you  on  the  question  of  the 
control  and  regulation  of  those  great  corporations  which 
are  popularly,  although  rather  vaguely,  known  as  trusts ; 
dealing  mostly  with  what  has  actually  been  accomplished 
in  the  way  of  legislation  and  in  the  way  of  enforcement 
of  legislation  during  the  past  eighteen  months,  the  period 
covering  the  two  sessions  of  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress. 
At  the  outset  I  shall  ask  you  to  remember  that  I  do  not 
approach  the  subject  either  from  the  standpoint  of  those 
who  speak  of  themselves  as  anti-trust  or  anti-corporation 
people,  nor  yet  from  the  standpoint  of  those  who  are 
fond  of  denying  the  existence  of  evils  in  the  trusts,  or 
who  apparently  proceed  upon  the  assumption  that  if  a 
corporation  is  large  enough  it  can  do  no  wrong. 

I  think  I  speak  for  the  great  majority  of  the  American 
people  when  I  say  that  we  are  not  in  the  least  against 
wealth  as  such,  whether  individual  or  corporate ;  that  we 
merely  desire  to  see  any  abuse  of  corporate  or  combined 
wealth  corrected  and  remedied  ;  that  we  do  not  desire  the 
abolition  or  destruction  of  big  corporations,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  recognize  them  as  being  in  many  cases  efficient 
economic  instruments,  the  results  of  an  inevitable  process 
of  economic  evolution,  and  only  desire  to  see  them  regu 
lated  and  controlled  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  to  sub 
serve  the  public  good.  We  should  be  false  to  the  historic 
principles  of  our  Government  if  we  discriminated,  either 

128 


MILWAUKEE  129 

by  legislation  or  administration,  either  for  or  against  a 
man  because  of  either  his  wealth  or  his  poverty.  There 
is  no  proper  place  in  our  society  either  for  the  rich  man 
who  uses  the  power  conferred  by  his  riches  to  enable  him 
to  oppress  and  wrong  his  neighbors,  nor  yet  for  the 
demagogic  agitator  who,  instead  of  attacking  abuses  as 
all  abuses  should  be  attacked  wherever  found,  attacks 
property,  attacks  prosperity,  attacks  men  of  wealth,  as 
such,  whether  they  be  good  or  bad,  attacks  corporations 
whether  they  do  well  or  ill,  and  seeks,  in  a  spirit  of  ig 
norant  rancor,  to  overthrow  the  very  foundations  upon 
which  rest  our  national  well-being. 

In  consequence  of  the  extraordinary  industrial  changes 
of  the  last  half-century,  and  notably  of  the  last  two  or 
three  decades,  changes  due  mainly  to  the  rapidity  and 
complexity  of  our  industrial  growth,  we  are  confronted 
with  problems  which  in  their  present  shape  were  unknown 
to  our  forefathers.  Our  great  prosperity,  with  its  accom 
panying  concentration  of  population  and  of  wealth,  its 
extreme  specialization  of  faculties,  and  its  development  of 
giant  industrial  leaders,  has  brought  much  good  and  some 
evil,  and  it  is  as  foolish  to  ignore  the  good  as  wilfully  to 
blind  ourselves  to  the  evil. 

The  evil  has  been  partly  the  inevitable  accompaniment 
of  the  social  changes,  and  where  this  is  the  case  it  can  be 
cured  neither  by  law  nor  by  the  administration  of  the  law, 
the  only  remedy  lying  in  the  slow  change  of  character 
and  of  economic  environment.  But  for  a  portion  of  the 
evil,  at  least,  we  think  that  remedies  can  be  found.  We 
know  well  the  danger  of  false  remedies,  and  we  are 
against  all  violent,  radical,  and  unwise  change.  But  we 
believe  that  by  proceeding  slowly,  yet  resolutely,  with 
good  sense  and  moderation,  and  also  with  a  firm  deter 
mination  not  to  be  swerved  from  our  course  either  by 
foolish  clamor  or  by  any  base  or  sinister  influence,  we 
can  accomplish  much  for  the  betterment  of  conditions. 


130  ADDRESSES 

Nearly  two  years  ago,  speaking  at  the  State  Fair  in 
Minnesota,  I  said: 

It  is  probably  true  that  the  large  majority  of  the  fortunes 
that  now  exist  in  this  country  have  been  amassed,  not  by 
injuring  our  people,  but  as  an  incident  to  the  conferring  of 
great  benefits  upon  the  community,  and  this,  no  matter  what 
may  have  been  the  conscious  purpose  of  those  amassing  them. 
There  is  but  the  scantiest  justification  for  most  of  the  outcry 
against  the  men  of  wealth  as  such  ;  and  it  ought  to  be  unneces 
sary  to  state  that  any  appeal  which  directly  or  indirectly  leads 
to  suspicion  and  hatred  among  ourselves,  which  tends  to  limit 
opportunity,  and  therefore  to  shut  the  door  of  success  against 
poor  men  of  talent,  and,  finally,  which  entails  the  possibility 
of  lawlessness  and  violence,  is  an  attack  upon  the  fundamental 
properties  of  American  citizenship.  Our  interests  are  at  bot 
tom  common ;  in  the  long  run  we  go  up  or  go  down  together. 
Yet  more  and  more  it  is  evident  that  the  State,  and  if  neces 
sary  the  Nation,  has  got  to  possess  the  right  of  supervision  and 
control  as  regards  the  great  corporations  which  are  its  crea 
tures;  particularly  as  regards  the  great  business  combinations 
which  derive  a  portion  of  their  importance  from  the  existence 
of  some  monopolistic  tendency.  The  right  should  be  exercised 
with  caution  and  self-restraint;  but  it  should  exist,  so  that  it 
may  be  invoked  if  the  need  arises. 

Last  fall,  in  speaking  at  Cincinnati,  I  said : 

The  necessary  supervision  and  control,  in  which  I  firmly 
believe  as  the  only  method  of  eliminating  the  real  evils  of  the 
trusts,  must  come  through  wisely  and  cautiously  framed  legis 
lation,  which  shall  aim  in  the  first  place  to  give  definite  control 
to  some  sovereign  over  the  great  corporations,  and  which  shall 
be  followed,  when  once  this  power  has  been  conferred,  by  a 
system  giving  to  the  Government  the  full  knowledge  which  is 
the  essential  for  satisfactory  action.  Then,  when  this  know 
ledge — 'One  of  the  essential  features  of  which  is  proper  publicity 
— has  been  gained,  what  further  steps  of  any  kind  are  neces- 


MILWAUKEE  131 

sary  can  be  taken  with  the  confidence  born  of  the  possession 
of  power  to  deal  with  the  subject,  and  of  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  what  should  and  can  be  done  in  the  matter.  We  need 
additional  power,  and  we  need  knowledge.  .  .  .  Such 
legislation — whether  obtainable  now  or  obtainable  only  after 
a  constitutional  amendment — should  provide  for  a  reasonable 
supervision,  the  most  prominent  feature  of  which  at  first 
should  be  publicity — that  is,  the  making  public,  both  to  the 
Government  authorities  and  to  the  people  at  large,  the  essen 
tial  facts  in  which  the  public  is  concerned.  This  would  give 
us  exact  knowledge  of  many  points  which  are  now  not  only  in 
doubt  but  the  subject  of  fierce  controversy.  Moreover,  the 
mere  fact  of  the  publication  would  cure  some  very  grave  evils, 
for  the  light  of  day  is  a  deterrent  to  wrong-doing.  It  would 
doubtless  disclose  other  evils  with  which,  for  the  time  being, 
we  could  devise  no  way  to  grapple.  Finally,  it  would  disclose 
others  which  could  be  grappled  with  and  cured  by  further 
legislative  action. 

In  my  message  to  Congress  for  1901  I  said: 

In  the  interest  of  the  whole  people  the  Nation  should,  with 
out  interfering  with  the  power  of  the  States  in  the  matter, 
itself  also  assume  power  of  supervision  and  regulation  over  all 
corporations  doing  an  interstate  business. 

The  views  thus  expressed  have  now  received  effect  by 
the  wise,  conservative,  and  yet  far-reaching  legislation 
enacted  by  Congress  at  its  last  session.  In  its  wisdom 
Congress  enacted  the  very  important  law  providing  a 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and  further  pro 
viding  therein  under  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  for  a  Commissioner  of  Corporations,  charged  with 
the  duty  of  supervision  of,  and  of  making  intelligent 
investigation  into,  the  organization  and  conduct  of  cor 
porations  engaged  in  interstate  commerce.  His  powers 
to  expose  illegal  or  hurtful  practices  and  to  obtain  all 
information  needful  for  the  purposes  of  further  intelligent 


132  ADDRESSES 

legislation  seem  adequate;  and  the  publicity  justifiable 
and  proper  for  public  purposes  is  satisfactorily  guaran 
teed.  The  law  was  passed  at  the  very  end  of  the  ses 
sion  of  Congress.  Owing  to  the  lateness  of  its  passage 
Congress  was  not  able  to  provide  proper  equipment  for 
the  new  Department ;  and  the  first  few  months  must 
necessarily  be  spent  in  the  work  of  organization,  and  the 
first  investigations  must  necessarily  be  of  a  tentative 
character.  The  satisfactory  development  of  such  a  system 
requires  time  and  great  labor.  Those  who  are  intrusted 
with  the  administration  of  the  new  law  will  assuredly  ad 
minister  it  in  a  spirit  of  absolute  fairness  and  justice  and 
of  entire  fearlessness,  with  the  firm  purpose  not  to  hurt 
any  corporation  doing  a  legitimate  business — on  the  con 
trary,  to  help  it — and,  on  the  other  hand,  not  to  spare 
any  corporation  which  may  be  guilty  of  illegal  practices, 
or  the  methods  of  which  may  make  it  a  menace  to  the 
public  welfare.  Some  substantial  good  will  be  done  in 
the  immediate  future ;  and  as  the  Department  gets  fairly 
to  work  under  the  law  an  ever  larger  vista  for  good  work 
will  be  opened  along  the  lines  indicated.  The  enactment 
of  this  law  is  one  of  the  most  significant  contributions 
which  have  been  made  in  our  time  toward  the  proper 
solution  of  the  problem  of  the  relations  to  the  people  of 
the  great  corporations  and  corporate  combinations. 

But  much  though  this  is,  it  is  only  a  part  of  what  has 
been  done  in  the  effort  to  ascertain  and  correct  improper 
trust  or  monopolistic  practices.  Some  eighteen  months 
ago  the  Industrial  Commission,  an  able  and  non-partisan 
body,  reported  to  Congress  the  result  of  their  investiga 
tion  of  trusts  and  industrial  combinations.  One  of  the 
most  important  of  their  conclusions  was  that  discrimina 
tions  in  freight  rates  and  facilities  were  granted  favored 
shippers  by  the  railroads  and  that  these  discriminations 
clearly  tended  toward  the  control  of  production  and 
prices  in  many  fields  of  business  by  large  combinations. 


MILWAUKEE  133 

That  this  conclusion  was  justifiable  was  shown  by  the 
disclosures  in  the  investigation  of  railroad  methods  pur 
sued  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1901-1902.  It  was  then 
shown  that  certain  trunk  lines  had  entered  into  unlawful 
agreements  as  to  the  transportation  of  food  products 
from  the  West  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  giving  a  few 
favored  shippers  rates  much  below  the  tariff  charges  im 
posed  upon  the  smaller  dealers  and  the  general  public. 
These  unjust  practices  had  prevailed  to  such  an  extent 
and  for  so  long  a  time  that  many  of  the  smaller  shippers 
had  been  driven  out  of  business,  until  practically  one 
buyer  of  grain  on  each  railway  system  had  been  able  by 
his  illegal  advantages  to  secure  a  monopoly  on  the  line 
with  which  his  secret  compact  was  made ;  this  monopoly 
enabling  him  to  fix  the  price  to  both  producer  and  con 
sumer.  Many  of  the  great  packing-house  concerns  were 
shown  to  be  in  combination  with  each  other  and  with 
most  of  the  great  railway  lines,  whereby  they  enjoyed 
large  secret  concessions  in  rates  and  thus  obtained  a  prac 
tical  monopoly  of  the  fresh-  and  cured-meat  industry 
of  the  country.  These  fusions,  though  violative  of  the 
statute,  had  prevailed  unchecked  for  so  many  years  that 
they  had  become  intrenched  in  and  interwoven  with  the 
commercial  life  of  certain  large  distributing  localities; 
although  this  was  of  course  at  the  expense  of  the  vast 
body  of  law-abiding  merchants,  the  general  public,  and 
particularly  of  unfavored  localities. 

Under  those  circumstances  it  was  a  serious  problem  to 
determine  the  wise  course  to  follow  in  vitalizing  a  law 
which  had  in  part  become  obsolete  or  proved  incapable 
of  enforcement.  Of  what  the  Attorney-General  did  in 
enforcing  it  I  shall  speak  later.  The  decisions  of  the 
courts  upon  the  law  had  betrayed  weaknesses  and  imper 
fections,  some  of  them  so  serious  as  to  render  abortive 
efforts  to  apply  any  effective  remedy  for  the  existing 
evils. 


134  ADDRESSES 

It  is  clear  that  corporations  created  for  quasi-public 
purposes,  clothed  for  that  reason  with  the  ultimate 
power  of  the  State  to  take  private  property  against  the 
will  of  the  owner,  hold  their  corporate  powers  as  carriers 
in  trust  for  the  fairly  impartial  service  of  all  the  public. 
Favoritism  in  the  use  of  such  powers,  unjustly  enriching 
some  and  unjustly  impoverishing  others,  discriminating 
in  favor  of  some  places  and  against  others,  is  palpably 
violative  of  plain  principles  of  justice.  Such  a  practice 
unchecked  is  hurtful  in  many  ways.  Congress,  having 
had  its  attention  drawn  to  the  matter,  enacted  a  most 
important  anti-rebate  law,  which  greatly  strengthens  the 
interstate-commerce  law.  This  new  law  prohibits  under 
adequate  penalties  the  giving  and  as  well  the  demanding 
or  receiving  of  such  preferences,  and  provides  the  pre 
ventive  remedy  of  injunction.  The  vigorous  administra 
tion  of  this  law,  and  it  will  be  enforced,  will,  it  is  hoped, 
afford  a  substantial  remedy  for  certain  trust  evils  which 
have  attracted  public  attention  and  have  created  public 
unrest. 

This  law  represents  a  noteworthy  and  important  ad 
vance  toward  just  and  effective  regulation  of  transporta 
tion.  Moreover,  its  passage  has  been  supplemented  by 
the  enactment  of  a  law  to  expedite  the  hearing  of  actions 
of  public  moment  under  the  anti-trust  act,  known  as  the 
Sherman  law,  and  under  the  act  to  regulate  commerce, 
at  the  request  of  the  Attorney-General ;  and  furthermore, 
additional  funds  have  been  appropriated  to  be  expended 
under  the  direction  of  the  Attorney-General  in  the  en 
forcement  of  these  laws. 

All  of  this  represents  a  great  and  substantial  advance 
in  legislation.  But  more  important  even  than  legislation 
is  the  administration  of  the  law,  and  I  ask  your  attention 
for  a  moment  to  the  way  in  which  the  law  has  been  ad 
ministered  by  the  profound  jurist  and  fearless  public 
servant  who  now  occupies  the  position  of  Attorney- 


MILWAUKEE  135 

General,  Mr.  Knox.  The  Constitution  enjoins  upon  the 
President  that  he  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully 
executed,  and  under  this  provision  the  Attorney-General 
formulated  a  policy  which  was  in  effect  nothing  but  the 
rigid  enforcement,  by  suits  managed  with  consummate 
skill  and  ability,  both  of  the  anti-trust  law  and  of  the 
imperfect  provisions  of  the  act  to  regulate  commerce. 
The  first  step  taken  was  the  prosecution  of  fourteen  suits 
against  the  principal  railroads  of  the  Middle  West,  re 
straining  them  by  injunction  from  further  violations  of 
either  of  the  laws  in  question. 

About  the  same  time  the  case  against  the  Northern 
Securities  Company  was  initiated.  This  was  a  corpora 
tion  organized  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey 
with  a  capital  of  four  hundred  million  dollars,  the  alleged 
purpose  being  to  control  the  Great  Northern  and  the 
Northern  Pacific  railroad  companies,  two  parallel  and 
competing  lines  extending  across  the  northern  tier  of 
States  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Whatever  the  purpose  its  consummation  would  have  re 
sulted  in  the  control  of  the  two  great  railway  systems 
upon  which  the  people  of  the  Northwestern  States  were 
so  largely  dependent  for  their  supplies  and  to  get  their 
products  to  market,  being  practically  merged  into  the 
New  Jersey  corporation.  The  proposition  that  these  in 
dependent  systems  of  railroads  should  be  merged  under 
a  single  control  alarmed  the  people  of  the  States  con 
cerned,  lest  they  be  subjected  to  what  they  deemed  a 
monopoly  of  interstate  transportation  and  the  suppression 
of  competition.  The  governors  of  the  States  most  deeply 
affected  held  a  meeting  to  consider  how  to  prevent  the 
merger  becoming  effective,  and  passed  resolutions  calling 
upon  the  National  Government  to  enforce  the  anti-trust 
laws  against  the  alleged  combination.  When  these  reso 
lutions  were  referred  to  the  Attorney-General  for  con 
sideration  and  advice,  he  reported  that  in  his  opinion  the 


136  ADDRESSES 

Northern  Securities  Company  and  its  control  of  the  rail 
roads  mentioned  was  a  combination  in  restraint  of  trade 
and  was  attempting  a  monopoly  in  violation  of  the 
national  anti-trust  law.  Thereupon  a  suit  in  equity, 
which  is  now  pending,  was  begun  by  the  Government  to 
test  the  validity  of  this  transaction  under  the  Sherman  law. 

At  nearly  the  same  time  the  disclosures  respecting  the 
secret  rebates  enjoyed  by  the  great  packing-house  com 
panies,  coupled  with  the  very  high  price  of  meats,  led 
the  Attorney-General  to  direct  an  investigation  into  the 
methods  of  the  so-called  beef  trust.  The  result  was  that 
he  filed  bills  for  injunction  against  six  of  the  principal 
packing-house  companies,  and  restrained  them  from  com 
bining  and  agreeing  upon  prices  at  which  they  would  sell 
their  products  in  States  other  than  those  in  which  their 
meats  were  prepared  for  market.  Writs  of  injunction 
were  issued  accordingly,  and  since  then,  after  full  argu 
ment,  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  has  made  the 
injunction  perpetual. 

The  cotton  interests  of  the  South,  including  growers, 
buyers,  and  shippers,  made  complaint  that  they  were 
suffering  great  injury  in  their  business  from  the  methods 
of  the  Southern  railroads  in  the  handling  and  transporta 
tion  of  cotton.  They  alleged  that  these  railroads,  by 
combined  action  under  a  pooling  arrangement  to  support 
their  rate  schedules,  had  denied  to  the  shippers  the  right 
to  elect  over  what  roads  their  commodities  should  be 
shipped,  and  that  by  dividing  upon  a  fixed  basis  the  cot 
ton  crop  of  the  South  all  inducement  to  compete  in  rates 
for  the  transportation  thereof  was  eliminated.  Proceed 
ings  were  instituted  by  the  Attorney-General  under  the 
anti-trust  law,  which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  the 
pool  and  in  restoring  to  the  growers  and  shippers  of 
the  South  the  right  to  ship  their  products  over  any  road 
they  elected,  thus  removing  the  restraint  upon  the  free 
dom  of  commerce. 


MILWAUKEE  137 

In  November,  1902,  the  Attorney-General  directed 
that  a  bill  for  an  injunction  be  filed  in  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court  at  San  Francisco  against  the  Federal  Salt 
Company — a  corporation  which  had  been  organized  under 
the  laws  of  an  Eastern  State,  but  had  its  main  office  and 
principal  place  of  business  in  California — and  against  a 
number  of  other  companies  and  persons  constituting 
what  was  known  as  the  salt  trust.  These  injunctions 
were  to  restrain  the  execution  of  certain  contracts  be 
tween  the  Federal  Salt  Company  and  the  other  defend 
ants,  by  which  the  latter  agreed  neither  to  import  nor  buy 
or  sell  salt,  except  from  and  to  the  Federal  Salt  Company, 
and  not  to  engage  or  assist  in  the  production  of  salt  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River  during  the  continuance  of  such 
contracts.  As  the  result  of  these  agreements  the  price 
of  salt  had  been  advanced  about  four  hundred  per  cent. 
A  temporary  injunction  order  was  obtained,  which  the 
defendants  asked  the  court  to  modify  on  the  ground  that 
the  anti-trust  law  had  no  application  to  contracts  for  pur 
chases  and  sales  within  a  State.  The  Circuit  Court  over 
ruled  this  contention  and  sustained  the  Government's 
position.  This  practically  concluded  the  case,  and  it  is 
understood  that  in  consequence  the  Federal  Salt  Com 
pany  is  about  to  be  dissolved  and  that  no  further  contest 
will  be  made. 

The  above  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  most  important 
steps,  legislative  and  administrative,  taken  during  the 
past  eighteen  months  in  the  direction  of  solving,  so  far  as 
at  present  it  seems  practicable  by  national  legislation  or 
administration  to  solve,  what  we  call  the  trust  problem. 
They  represent  a  sum  of  very  substantial  achievement. 
They  represent  a  successful  effort  to  devise  and  apply 
real  remedies ;  an  effort  which  so  far  succeeded  because  it 
was  made  not  only  with  resolute  purpose  and  determina 
tion,  but  also  in  a  spirit  of  common-sense  and  justice, 
as  far  removed  as  possible  from  rancor,  hysteria,  and 


138  ADDRESSES 

unworthy  demagogic  appeal.  In  the  same  spirit  the  laws 
will  continue  to  be  enforced.  Not  only  is  the  legislation 
recently  enacted  effective,  but  in  my  judgment  it  was 
impracticable  to  attempt  more.  Nothing  of  value  is  to 
be  expected  from  ceaseless  agitation  for  radical  and  ex 
treme  legislation.  The  people  may  wisely,  and  with 
confidence,  await  the  results  which  are  reasonably  to  be 
expected  from  the  impartial  enforcement  of  the  laws 
which  have  recently  been  placed  upon  the  statute  books. 
Legislation  of  a  general  and  indiscriminate  character 
would  be  sure  to  fail,  either  because  it  would  involve  all 
interests  in  a  common  ruin,  or  because  it  would  not  really 
reach  any  evil.  We  have  endeavored  to  provide  a  dis 
criminating  adaptation  of  the  remedy  to  the  real  mischief. 
Many  of  the  alleged  remedies  advocated  are  of  the  un 
pleasantly  drastic  type  which  seeks  to  destroy  the  disease 
by  killing  the  patient.  Others  are  so  obviously  futile 
that  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  treat  them  seriously  or  as 
being  advanced  in  good  faith.  High  among  the  latter  I 
place  the  effort  to  reach  the  trust  question  by  means  of 
the  tariff.  You  can,  of  course,  put  an  end  to  the  pros 
perity  of  the  trusts  by  putting  an  end  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  nation ;  but  the  price  for  such  action  seems  high. 
The  alternative  is  to  do  exactly  what  has  been  done  dur 
ing  the  life  of  the  Congress  which  has  just  closed — that 
is,  to  endeavor,  not  to  destroy  corporations,  but  to  regu 
late  them  with  a  view  of  doing  away  with  whatever  is  of 
evil  in  them  and  of  making  them  subserve  the  public  use. 
The  law  is  not  to  be  administered  in  the  interest  of  the 
poor  man  as  such,  nor  yet  in  the  interest  of  the  rich  man 
as  such,  but  in  the  interest  of  the  law-abiding  man,  rich 
or  poor.  We  are  no  more  against  organizations  of  capi 
tal  than  against  organizations  of  labor.  We  welcome 
both,  demanding  only  that  each  shall  do  right  and  shall 
remember  its  duty  to  the  Republic.  Such  a  course  we 
consider  not  merely  a  benefit  to  the  poor  man,  but  a 


MILWAUKEE  139 

benefit  to  the  rich  man.  We  do  no  man  an  injustice 
when  we  require  him  to  obey  the  law.  On  the  contrary, 
if  he  is  a  man  whose  safety  and  well-being  depend  in  a 
peculiar  degree  upon  the  existence  of  the  spirit  of  law 
and  order,  we  are  rendering  him  the  greatest  service  when 
we  require  him  to  be  himself  an  exemplar  of  that  spirit. 


XIX 

AT  MINNEAPOLIS,  MINNESOTA,  APRIL  4,  1903 

My  fellow -citizens  : 

At  the  special  session  of  the  Senate  held  in  March  the 
Cuban  reciprocity  treaty  was  ratified.  When  this  treaty 
goes  into  effect,  it  will  confer  substantial  economic  bene 
fits  alike  upon  Cuba,  because  of  the  widening  of  her 
market  in  the  United  States,  and  upon  the  United  States, 
because  of  the  equal  widening  and  the  progressive  control 
it  will  give  to  our  people  in  the  Cuban  market.  This 
treaty  is  beneficial  to  both  parties  and  justifies  itself  on 
several  grounds.  In  the  first  place,  we  offer  to  Cuba  her 
natural  market.  We  can  confer  upon  her  a  benefit  which 
no  other  nation  can  confer ;  and  for  the  very  reason  that 
we  have  started  her  as  an  independent  republic  and  that 
we  are  rich,  prosperous,  and  powerful,  it  behooves  us  to 
stretch  out  a  helping  hand  to  our  feebler  younger  sister. 
In  the  next  place,  it  widens  the  market  for  our  products, 
both  the  products  of  the  farm  and  certain  of  our  manu 
factures;  and  it  is  therefore  in  the  interests  of  our 
.  farmers,  manufacturers,  merchants,  and  wage  workers. 
Finally,  the  treaty  was  not  merely  warranted  but  de 
manded,  apart  from  all  other  considerations,  by  the 
enlightened  consideration  of  our  foreign  policy.  More 
and  more  in  the  future  we  must  occupy  a  preponderant 
position  in  the  waters  and  along  the  coasts  in  the  region 
south  of  us ;  not  a  position  of  control  over  the  republics 
of  the  South,  but  of  control  of  the  military  situation  so 

140 


MINNEAPOLIS  141 

as  to  avoid  any  possible  complications  in  the  future. 
Under  the  Platt  amendment  Cuba  agreed  to  give  us  cer 
tain  naval  stations  on  her  coast.  The  Navy  Department 
decided  that  we  needed  but  two,  and  we  have  specified 
where  these  two  are  to  be.  President  Palma  has  con 
cluded  an  agreement  giving  them  to  us — an  agreement 
which  the  Cuban  legislative  body  will  doubtless  soon 
ratify.  In  other  words,  the  Republic  of  Cuba  has  as 
sumed  a  special  relation  to  our  international  political 
system,  under  which  she  gives  us  outposts  of  defence, 
and  we  are  morally -bound  to  extend  to  her  in  a  degree 
the  benefit  of  our  own  economic  system.  From  every 
standpoint  of  wise  and  enlightened  home  and  foreign 
policy  the  ratification  of  the  Cuban  treaty  marked  a  step 
of  substantial  progress  in  the  growth  of  our  nation 
toward  greatness  at  home  and  abroad. 

Equally  important  was  the  action  on  the  tariff  upon 
products  of  the  Philippines.  We  gave  them  a  reduction 
of  twenty-five  per  cent.,  and  would  have  given  them  a 
reduction  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  more  had  it  not  been 
for  the  opposition,  in  the  hurried  closing  days  of  the  last 
session,  of  certain  gentlemen  who,  by  the  way,  have  been 
representing  themselves  both  as  peculiarly  solicitous  for 
the  interests  of  the  Philippine  people  and  as  special 
champions  of  the  lowering  of  tariff  duties.  There  is  a 
distinctly  humorous  side  to  the  fact  that  the  reduction  of 
duties  which  would  benefit  Cuba  and  the  Philippines  as 
well  as  ourselves  was  antagonized  chiefly  by  those  who 
in  theory  have  been  fond  of  proclaiming  themselves  the 
advanced  guardians  of  the  oppressed  nationalities  in  the 
islands  affected  and  the  ardent  advocates  of  the  reduction 
of  duties  generally,  but  who  instantly  took  violent  ground 
against  the  practical  steps  to  accomplish  either  purpose. 

Moreover,  a  law  was  enacted  putting  anthracite  on  the 
free  list  and  completely  removing  the  duties  on  all  other 
kinds  of  coal  for  one  year. 


142  ADDRESSES 

We  are  now  in  a  condition  of  prosperity  unparalleled 
not  merely  in  our  own  history  but  in  the  history  of  any 
other  nation.  This  prosperity  is  deep-rooted  and  stands 
on  a  firm  basis  because  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  aver 
age  American  has  in  him  the  stuff  out  of  which  victors 
are  made  in  the  great  industrial  contests  of  the  present 
day,  just  as  in  the  great  military  contests  of  the  past; 
and  because  he  is  now  able  to  use  and  develop  his  quali 
ties  to  best  advantage  under  our  well-established  economic 
system.  We  are  winning  headship  among  the  nations  of 
the  world  because  our  people  are  able  to  keep  their  high 
average  of  individual  citizenship  and  to  show  their  mas 
tery  in  the  hard,  complex,  pushing  life  of  the  age.  There 
will  be  fluctuations  from  time  to  time  in  our  prosperity, 
but  it  will  continue  to  grow  just  so  long  as  we  keep  up 
this  high  average  of  individual  citizenship  and  permit 
it  to  work  out  its  own  salvation  under  proper  economic 
legislation. 

The  present  phenomenal  prosperity  has  been  won 
under  a  tariff  which  was  made  in  accordance  with  certain 
fixed  and  definite  principles,  the  most  important  of 
which  is  an  avowed  determination  to  protect  the  interests 
of  the  American  producer,  business  man,  wage  worker, 
and  farmer  alike.  The  general  tariff  policy,  to  which, 
without  regard  to  changes  in  detail,  I  believe  this  country 
is  irrevocably  committed,  is  fundamentally  based  upon 
ample  recognition  of  the  difference  between  the  cost  of 
production — that  is,  the  cost  of  labor — here  and  abroad, 
and  of  the  need  to  see  to  it  that  our  laws  shall  in  no  event 
afford  advantage  in  our  own  market  to  foreign  industries 
over  American  industries,  to  foreign  capital  over  Ameri 
can  capital,  to  foreign  labor  over  our  own  labor.  This 
country  has  and  this  country  needs  better-paid,  better- 
educated,  better-fed,  and  better-clothed  workingmen,  of 
a  higher  type,  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  foreign  coun 
try.  It  has  and  it  needs  a  higher,  more  vigorous,  and 


MINNEAPOLIS  143 

more  prosperous  type  of  tillers  of  the  soil  than  is  pos 
sessed  by  any  other  country.  The  business  men,  the 
merchants  and  manufacturers,  and  the  managers  of  the 
transportation  interests  show  the  same  superiority  when 
compared  with  men  of  their  type  abroad.  The  events 
of  the  last  few  years  have  shown  how  skilfully  the  leaders 
of  American  industry  use  in  international  business  com 
petition  the  mighty  industrial  weapons  forged  for  them 
by  the  resources  of  our  country,  the  wisdom  of  our  laws, 
and  the  skill,  the  inventive  genius,  and  the  administrative 
capacity  of  our  people. 

It  is,  of  course,  a  mere  truism  to  say  that  we  want  to 
use  everything  in  our  power  to  foster  the  welfare  of  our 
entire  body  politic.  In  other  words,  we  need  to  treat  the 
tariff  as  a  business  proposition,  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  interests  of  the  country  as  a  whole,  and  not  with 
reference  to  the  temporary  needs  of  any  political  party. 
It  is  almost  as  necessary  that  our  policy  should  be  stable 
as  that  it  should  be  wise.  A  nation  like  ours  could  not 
long  stand  the  ruinous  policy  of  readjusting  its  business 
to  radical  changes  in  the  tariff  at  short  intervals,  especially 
when,  as  now,  owing  to  the  immense  extent  and  variety 
of  our  products,  the  tariff  schedules  carry  rates  of  duty 
on  thousands  of  different  articles.  Sweeping  and  violent 
changes  in  such  a  tariff,  touching  so  vitally  the  interests 
of  all  of  us,  embracing  agriculture,  labor,  manufactures, 
and  commerce,  would  be  disastrous  in  any  event,  and 
they  would  be  fatal  to  our  present  well-being  if  ap 
proached  on  the  theory  that  the  principle  of  the  pro 
tective  tariff  was  to  be  abandoned.  The  business  world, 
that  is,  the  entire  American  world,  cannot  afford,  if  it 
has  any  regard  for  its  own  welfare,  even  to  consider  the 
advisability  of  abandoning  the  present  system: 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  industrial  conditions 
so  frequently  change,  as  with  us  must  of  necessity  be  the 
case,  it  is  a  matter  of  prime  importance  that  we  should 


144  ADDRESSES 

be  able  from  time  to  time  to  adapt  our  economic  policy 
to  the  changed  conditions.  Our  aim  should  be  to  pre 
serve  the  policy  of  a  protective  tariff,  in  which  the  nation 
as  a  whole  has  acquiesced,  and  yet  wherever  and  when 
ever  necessary  to  change  the  duties  in  particular  para 
graphs  or  schedules  as  matters  of  legislative  detail,  if 
such  change  is  demanded  by  the  interests  of  the  nation 
as  a  whole. 

In  making  any  readjustment  there  are  certain  important 
considerations  which  cannot  be  disregarded.  If  a  tariff 
law  has  on  the  whole  worked  well,  and  if  business  has 
prospered  under  it  and  is  prospering,  it  may  be  better  to 
endure  some  inconveniences  and  inequalities,  for  a  time 
than  by  making  changes  to  risk  causing  disturbance  and 
perhaps  paralysis  in  the  industries  and  business  of  the 
country.  The  fact  that  the  change  in  a  given  rate  of 
duty  may  be  thought  desirable  does  not  settle  the  ques 
tion  whether  it  is  advisable  to  make  the  change  immedi 
ately.  Every  tariff  deals  with  duties  on  thousands  of 
articles  arranged  in  hundreds  of  paragraphs  and  in  many 
schedules.  These  duties  affect  a  vast  number  of  interests 
which  are  often  conflicting.  If  necessary  for  our  welfare, 
then  of  course  Congress  must  consider  the  question  of 
changing  the  law  as  a  whole  or  changing  any  given  rates 
of  duty,  but  we  must  remember  that  whenever  even  a 
single  schedule  is  considered  some  interests  will  appear 
to  demand  a  change  in  almost  every  schedule  in  the  law ; 
and  when  it  comes  to  upsetting  the  schedules  generally 
the  effect  upon  the  business  interests  of  the  country 
would  be  ruinous. 

One  point  we  must  steadily  keep  in  mind.  The  ques 
tion  of  tariff  revision,  speaking  broadly,  stands  wholly 
apart  from  the  question  of  dealing  with  the  trusts.  No 
change  in  tariff  duties  can  have  any  substantial  effect  in 
solving  the  so-called  trust  problem.  Certain  great  trusts 
or  great  corporations  are  wholly  unaffected  by  the  tariff. 


MINNEAPOLIS  145 

Practically  all  the  others  that  are  of  any  importance  have 
as  a  matter  of  fact  numbers  of  smaller  American  competi 
tors;  and  of  course  a  change  in  the  tariff  which  would 
work  injury  to  the  large  corporation  would  work  not 
merely  injury  but  destruction  to  its  smaller  competitors; 
and  equally  of  course  such  a  change  would  mean  disaster 
to  all  the  wage  workers  connected  with  either  the  large 
or  the  small  corporations.  From  the  standpoint  of  those 
interested  in  the  solution  of  the  trust  problem,  such  a 
change  would  therefore  merely  mean  that  the  trust  was 
relieved  of  the  competition  of  its  weaker  American  com 
petitors,  and  thrown  into  competition  only  with  foreign 
competitors";  and  that  the  first  effort  to  meet  this  new 
competition  would  be  made  by  cutting  down  wages,  and 
would  therefore  be  primarily  at  the  cost  of  labor.  In  the 
case  of  some  of  our  greatest  trusts  such  a  change  might 
confer  upon  them  a  positive  benefit.  Speaking  broadly, 
it  is  evident  that  the  changes  in  the  tariff  will  affect  the 
trusts  for  weal  or  for  woe  simply  as  they  affect  the  whole 
country.  The  tariff  affects  trusts  only  as  it  affects  all 
other  interests.  It  makes  all  these  interests,  large  or 
small,  profitable ;  and  its  benefits  can  be  taken  from  the 
large  only  under  penalty  of  taking  them  from  the  small 
also. 

To  sum  up,  then,  we  must  as  a  people  approach  a  mat 
ter  of  such  prime  economic  importance  as  the  tariff  from 
the  standpoint  of  our  business  needs.  We  cannot  afford 
to  become  fossilized  or  to  fail  to  recognize  the  fact  that 
as  the  needs  of  the  country  change  it  may  be  necessary 
to  meet  these  new  needs  by  changing  certain  features  of 
our  tariff  laws.  Still  less  can  we  afford  to  fail  to  recog 
nize  the  further  fact  that  these  changes  must  not  be 
made  until  the  need  for  them  outweighs  the  disadvantages 
which  may  result ;  and  when  it  becomes  necessary  to 
make  them  they  should  be  made  with  full  recognition  of 
the  need  of  stability  in  our  economic  system  and  of 


146  ADDRESSES 

keeping  unchanged  the  principle  of  that  system  which  has 
now  become  a  settled  policy  in  our  national  life.  We 
have  prospered  marvellously  at  home.  As  a  nation  we 
stand  in  the  very  forefront  in  the  giant  international  in 
dustrial  competition  of  the  day.  We  can  not  afford  by 
any  freak  of  folly  to  forfeit  the  position  to  which  we 
have  thus  triumphantly  attained. 


XX 

AT  SIOUX  FALLS,  SOUTH  DAKOTA,  APRIL  6,  1903 

Fellow-citizens : 

There  are  many,  many  lesser  problems  which  go  to 
make  up  in  their  entirety  the  huge  and  complex  problems 
of  our  modern  industrial  life.  Each  of  these  problems  is, 
moreover,  connected  with  many  of  the  others.  Few  in 
deed  are  simple  or  stand  only  by  themselves.  The  most 
important  are  those  connected  with  the  relation  of  the 
farmers,  the  stock-growers,  and  soil-tillers,  to  the  com 
munity  at  large,  and  those  affecting  the  relations  between 
employer  and  employed.  In  a  country  like  ours  it  is 
fundamentally  true  that  the  well-being  of  the  tiller  of  the 
soil  and  the  wage  worker  is  the  well-being  of  the  State. 
If  they  are  well  off,  then  we  need  concern  ourselves  but 
little  as  to  how  other  classes  stand,  for  they  will  inevitably 
be  well  off  too ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  there  can  be  no 
real  general  prosperity  unless  based  on  the  foundation  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  wage  worker  and  the  tiller  of  the 
soil. 

But  the  needs  of  these  two  classes  are  often  not  the 
same.  The  tiller  of  the  soil  has  been  of  all  our  citizens 
the  one  on  the  whole  the  least  affected  in  his  ways  of  life 
and  methods  of  industry  by  the  giant  industrial  changes 
of  the  last  half  century.  There  has  been  change  with 
him,  too,  of  course.  He  also  can  work  to  best  advantage 
if  he  keeps  in  close  touch  with  his  fellows ;  and  the  suc 
cess  of  the  national  Department  of  Agriculture  has  shown 

147 


148  ADDRESSES 

how  much  can  be  done  for  him  by  rational  action  of  the 
Government.  Nor  is  it  only  through  the  Department 
that  the  Government  can  act.  One  of  the  greatest  and 
most  beneficent  measures  passed  by  the  last  Congress, 
or  indeed  by  any  Congress  in  recent  years,  is  the  Irriga 
tion  Act,  which  will  do  for  the  States  of  the  Great  Plains 
and  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  at  least  as  much  as  ever 
has  been  done  for  the  States  of  the  humid  region  by  river 
and  harbor  improvements.  Few  measures  that  have 
been  put  upon  the  statute  books  of  the  nation  have  done 
more  for  the  people  than  this  law  will,  I  firmly  believe, 
directly  and  indirectly  accomplish  for  the  States  in 
question. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  devotes  its  whole 
energy  to  working  for  the  welfare  of  farmers  and  stock- 
growers.  In  every  section  of  our  country  it  aids  them  in 
their  constantly  increasing  search  for  a  better  agricultural 
education.  It  helps  not  only  them,  but  all  the  nation, 
in  seeing  that  our  exports  of  meats  have  clean  bills  of 
health,  and  that  there  is  rigid  inspection  of  all  meats 
that  enter  into  interstate  commerce.  Thirty-eight  million 
carcasses  were  inspected  during  the  last  fiscal  year.  Our 
stock-growers  sell  forty-five  million  dollars'  worth  of  live 
stock  annually,  and  these  animals  must  be  kept  healthy 
or  else  our  people  will  lose  their  trade.  Our  export  of 
plant  products  to  foreign  countries  amounts  to  over  six 
hundred  million  dollars  a  year,  and  there  is  no  branch  of 
its  work  to  which  the  Department  of  Agriculture  devotes 
more  care.  Thus  the  Department  has  been  successfully 
introducing  a  macaroni  wheat  from  the  headwaters  of  the 
Volga,  which  grows  successfully  in  ten  inches  of  rainfall, 
and  by  this  means  wheat-growing  has  been  successfully 
extended  westward  into  the  semi-arid  region.  Two  mil 
lion  bushels  of  this  wheat  were  grown  last  year;  and 
being  suited  to  dry  conditions  it  can  be  used  for  forage 
as  well  as  for  food  for  man. 


SIOUX  FALLS  149 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  been  helping  our 
fruit  men  to  establish  markets  abroad  by  studying 
methods  of  fruit  preservation  through  refrigeration  and 
through  methods  of  handling  and  packing.  On  the  Gulf 
coasts  of  Louisiana  and  Texas,  thanks  to  the  Department 
of  Agriculture,  a  rice  suitable  to  the  region  was  imported 
from  the  Orient  and  the  rice  crop  is  now  practically  equal 
to  our  needs  in  this  country,  whereas  a  few  years  ago  it 
supplied  but  one  fourth  of  them.  The  most  important 
of  our  farm  products  is  the  grass  crop ;  and  to  show  what 
has  been  done  with  grasses,  I  need  only  allude  to  the 
striking  change  made  in  the  entire  West  by  the  extended 
use  of  alfalfa. 

Moreover,  the  Department  has  taken  the  lead  in  the 
effort  to  prevent  the  deforestation  of  the  country. 
Where  there  are  forests  we  seek  to  preserve  them ;  and 
on  the  once  treeless  plains  and  the  prairies  we  are  doing 
our  best  to  foster  the  habit  of  tree  planting  among  our 
people.  In  my  own  lifetime  I  have  seen  wonderful 
changes  brought  about  by  this  tree  planting  here  in  your 
own  State  and  in  the  States  immediately  around  it. 

There  are  a  number  of  very  important  questions,  such 
as  that  of  good  roads,  with  which  the  States  alone  can 
deal,  and  where  all  that  the  National  Government  can  do 
is  to  co-operate  with  them.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
education  of  the  American  farmer.  A  number  of  the 
States  have  themselves  started  to  help  in  this  work  and 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  does  an  immense  amount 
which  is  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word  educational,  and 
educational  in  the  most  practical  way. 

It  is  therefore  clearly  true  that  a  great  advance  has 
been  made  in  the  direction  of  finding  ways  by  which  the 
Government  can  help  the  farmer  to  help  himself — the 
only  kind  of  help  which  a  self-respecting  man  will  accept, 
or,  I  may  add,  which  will  in  the  end  do  him  any  good. 
Much  has  been  done  in  these  ways,  and  farm  life  and 


150  ADDRESSES 

farm  processes  continually  change  for  the  better.  The 
farmer  himself  still  retains,  because  of  his  surroundings 
and  the  nature  of  his  work,  to  a  pre-eminent  degree  the 
qualities  which  we  like  to  think  of  as  distinctly  American 
in  considering  our  early  history.  The  man  who  tills  his 
own  farm,  whether  on  the  prairie  or  in  the  woodland,  the 
man  who  grows  what  we  eat  and  the  raw  material  which 
is  worked  up  into  what  we  wear,  still  exists  more  nearly 
under  the  conditions  which  obtained  when  the  "em 
battled  farmers"  of  '76  made  this  country  a  nation  than 
is  true  of  any  others  of  our  people. 

But  the  wage  workers  in  our  cities,  like  the  capitalists 
in  our  cities,  face  totally  changed  conditions.  The  de 
velopment  of  machinery  and  the  extraordinary  change 
in  business  conditions  have  rendered  the  employment  of 
capital  and  of  persons  in  large  aggregations  not  merely 
profitable  but  often  necessary  for  success,  and  have 
specialized  the  labor  of  the  wage  worker  at  the  same  time 
that  they  have  brought  great  aggregations  of  wage 
workers  together.  More  and  more  in  our  great  industrial 
centres  men  have  come  to  realize  that  they  cannot  live  as 
independently  of  one  another  as  in  the  old  days  was  the 
case  everywhere,  and  as  is  now  the  case  in  the  country 
districts. 

Of  course,  fundamentally  each  man  will  yet  find  that 
the  chief  factor  in  determining  his  success  or  failure  in 
life  is  the  sum  of  his  own  individual  qualities.  He  can 
not  afford  to  lose  his  individual  initiative,  his  individual 
will  and  power;  but  he  can  best  use  that  power  if  for 
certain  objects  he  unites  with  his  fellows.  Much  can  be 
done  by  organization,  combination,  union  among  the 
wage  workers;  finally,  something  can  be  done  by  the 
direct  action  of  the  State.  It  is  not  possible  empirically 
to  declare  when  the  interference  of  the  State  should  be 
deemed  legitimate  and  when  illegitimate. 

The  line  of  demarcation  between  unhealthy  over-inter- 


SIOUX  FALLS  151 

ference  and  unhealthy  lack  of  regulation  is  not  always 
well  defined,  and  shifts  with  the  change  in  our  industrial 
needs.  Most  certainly  we  should  never  invoke  the  inter 
ference  of  the  State  or  Nation  unless  it  is  absolutely 
necessary;  but  it  is  equally  true  that  when  confident  of 
its  necessity  we  should  not  on  academic  grounds  refuse  it. 
Wise  factory  laws,  laws  to  forbid  the  employment  of 
child  labor  and  to  safeguard  the  employees  against  the 
effects  of  culpable  negligence  by  the  employer,  are  neces 
sary,  not  merely  in  the  interest  of  the  wage  worker,  but 
in  the  interest  of  the  honest  and  humane  employer,  who 
should  not  be  penalized  for  his  honesty  and  humanity 
by  being  exposed  to  unchecked  competition  with  an  un 
scrupulous  rival.  It  is  far  more  difficult  to  deal  with  the 
greed  that  works  through  cunning  than  with  the  greed 
that  works  through  violence.  But  the  effort  to  deal  with 
it  must  be  steadily  made. 

Very  much  of  our  effort  in  reference  to  labor  matters 
should  be  by  every  device  and  expedient  to  try  to  secure 
a  constantly  better  understanding  between  employer  and 
employee.  Everything  possible  should  be  done  to  in 
crease  the  sympathy  and  fellow-feeling  between  them, 
and  every  chance  taken  to  allow  each  to  look  at  all 
questions,  especially  at  questions  in  dispute,  somewhat 
through  the  other's  eyes.  If  met  with  a  sincere  desire 
to  act  fairly  by  one  another,  and  if  there  is,  furthermore, 
power  by  each  to  appreciate  the  other's  standpoint,  the 
chance  for  trouble  is  minimized.  I  suppose  every  think 
ing  man  rejoices  when  by  mediation  or  arbitration  it 
proves  possible  to  settle  troubles  in  time  to  avert  the 
suffering  and  bitterness  caused  by  strikes.  Moreover,  a 
conciliation  committee  can  do  best  work  when  the  trouble 
is  in  its  beginning,  or  at  least  has  not  come  to  a  head. 
When  the  break  has  actually  occurred,  damage  has  been 
done,  and  each  side  feels  sore  and  angry ;  and  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  get  them  together — difficult  to  make  either  forget 


152  ADDRESSES 

its  own  wrongs  and  remember  the  rights  of  the  other. 
If  possible  the  effort  at  conciliation  or  mediation  or  arbi 
tration  should  be  made  in  the  earlier  stages,  and  should 
be  marked  by  the  wish  on  the  part  of  both  sides  to  try  to 
come  to  a  common  agreement  which  each  shall  think  in 
the  interests  of  the  other  as  well  as  of  itself. 

When  we  deal  with  such  a  subject  we  are  fortunate  in 
having  before  us  an  admirable  object-lesson  in  the  work 
that  has  just  been  closed  by  the  Anthracite  Coal  Strike 
Commission.  This  was  the  Commission  which  was  ap 
pointed  last  fall  at  the  time  when  the  coal  strike  in  the 
anthracite  regions  threatened  our  nation  with  a  disaster 
second  to  none  which  has  befallen  us  since  the  days  of 
the  Civil  War.  Their  report  was  made  just  before  the 
Senate  adjourned  at  the  special  session ;  and  no  Govern 
ment  document  of  recent  years  marks  a  more  important 
piece  of  work  better  done,  and  there  is  none  which  teaches 
sounder  social  morality  to  our  people.  The  Commission 
consisted  of  seven  as  good  men  as  were  to  be  found  in  the 
country,  representing  the  bench,  the  church,  the  army, 
the  professions,  the  employers,  and  the  employed.  They 
acted  as  a  unit,  and  the  report  which  they  unanimously 
signed  is  a  masterpiece  of  sound  common-sense  and  of 
sound  doctrine  on  the  very  questions  with  which  our 
people  should  most  deeply  concern  themselves.  The 
immediate  effect  of  this  Commission's  appointment  and 
action  was  of  vast  and  incalculable  benefit  to  the  nation ; 
but  the  ultimate  effect  will  be  even  better,  if  capitalist, 
wage  worker,  and  lawmaker  alike  will  take  to  heart  and 
act  upon  the  lessons  set  forth  in  the  report  they  have 
made. 

Of  course  the  National  Government  has  but  a  small 
field  in  which  it  can  work  in  labor  matters.  Something 
it  can  do,  however,  and  that  something  ought  to  be  done. 
Among  other  things  I  should  like  to  see  the  District  of 
Columbia,  which  is  completely  under  the  control  of  the 


SIOUX  FALLS  153 

National  Government,  receive  a  set  of  model  labor  laws. 
Washington  is  not  a  city  of  very  large  industries,  but 
still  it  has  some.  Wise  labor  legislation  for  the  city  of 
Washington  would  be  a  good  thing  in  itself,  and  it  would 
be  a  far  better  thing,  because  a  standard  would  thereby 
be  set  for  the  country  as  a  whole. 

In  the  field  of  general  legislation  relating  to  these  sub 
jects  the  action  of  Congress  is  necessarily  very  limited. 
Still  there  are  certain  ways  in  which  we  can  act.  Thus 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  has  recommended,  with  my 
cordial  and  hearty  approval,  the  enactment  of  a  strong 
employers'  liability  law  in  the  navy-yards  of  the  nation. 
It  should  be  extended  to  similar  branches  of  the  Govern 
ment  work.  Again,  sometimes  such  laws  can  be  enacted 
as  an  incident  to  the  nation's  control  over  interstate 
commerce.  In  my  last  annual  message  to  Congress  I  ad 
vocated  the  passage  of  a  law  in  reference  to  car  couplings 
— to  strengthen  the  features  of  the  one  already  on  the 
statute  books  so  as  to  minimize  the  exposure  to  death 
and  maiming  of  railway  employees.  Much  opposition 
had  to  be  overcome.  In  the  end  an  admirable  law  was 
passed  "to  promote  the  safety  of  employees  and  travel 
lers  upon  railroads  by  compelling  common  carriers  en 
gaged  in  interstate  commerce  to  equip  their  cars  with 
automatic  couplers  and  continuous  brakes,  and  their 
locomotives  with  driving-wheel  brakes."  This  law  re 
ceived  my  signature  a  couple  of  days  before  Congress 
adjourned.  It  represents  a  real  and  substantial  advance 
in  an  admirable  kind  of  legislation. 


XXI 

AT  FARGO,  NORTH  DAKOTA,  APRIL  7,  1903 

My  fellow -citizens  : 

The  Northwest,  whose  sons  in  the  Civil  War  added  such 
brilliant  pages  to  the  honor  roll  of  the  Republic,  likewise 
bore  a  full  share  in  the  struggle  of  which  the  war  with 
Spain  was  the  beginning, — a  struggle  slight  indeed  when 
compared  with  the  gigantic  death-wrestle  which  for  four 
years  stamped  to  and  fro  across  the  Southern  States  in 
the  Civil  War,  but  a  struggle  fraught  with  consequences 
to  the  nation,  and  indeed  to  the  world,  out  of  all  propor 
tion  to  the  smallness  of  the  effort  upon  our  part. 

Three  and  a  half  years  ago  President  McKinley  spoke 
in  the  adjoining  State  of  Minnesota  on  the  occasion  of 
the  return  of  the  Thirteenth  Minnesota  Volunteers  from 
the  Philippine  Islands,  where  they  had  served  with  your 
own  gallant  sons  of  the  North  Dakota  regiment.  After 
heartily  thanking  the  returned  soldiers  for  their  valor  and 
patriotism,  and  their  contemptuous  refusal  to  be  daunted 
or  misled  by  the  outcry  raised  at  home  by  the  men  of 
little  faith  who  wished  us  to  abandon  the  islands,  he 
spoke  of  the  islands  themselves  as  follows : 

That  Congress  will  provide  for  them  a  government  which 
will  bring  them  blessings,  which  will  promote  their  material 
interests  as  well  as  advance  their  people  in  the  path  of  civiliza 
tion  and  intelligence,  I  confidently  believe.  They  will  not  be 
governed  as  vassals  or  serfs  or  slaves.  They  will  be  given  a 
government  of  liberty,  regulated  by  law,  honestly  administered, 

154 


FARGO  155 

without  oppressing  exactions,  taxation  without  tyranny,  justice 
without  bribe,  education  without  distinction  of  social  condition, 
freedom  of  religious  worship,  and  protection  in  "  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

What  he  said  then  lay  in  the  realm  of  promise.  Now 
it  lies  in  the  realm  of  positive  performance. 

It  is  a  good  thing  to  look  back  upon  what  has  been  said 
and  compare  it  with  the  record  of  what  has  actually  been 
done.  If  promises  are  violated,  if  plighted  word  is  not 
kept,  then  those  who  have  failed  in  their  duty  should  be 
held  up  to  reprobation.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
promises  have  been  substantially  made  good ;  if  the 
achievement  has  kept  pace  and  more  than  kept  pace  with 
the  prophecy,  then  they  who  made  the  one  and  are  re 
sponsible  for  the  other  are  entitled  of  just  right  to  claim 
the  credit  which  attaches  to  those  who  serve  the  nation 
well.  This  credit  I  claim  for  the  men  who  have  managed 
so  admirably  the  military  and  the  civil  affairs  of  the 
Philippine  Islands,  and  for  those  other  men  who  have  so 
heartily  backed  them  in  Congress,  and  without  whose  aid 
and  support  not  one  thing  could  have  been  accomplished. 

When  President  McKinley  spoke,  the  first  duty  was  the 
restoration  of  order;  and  to  this  end  the  use  of  the  army 
of  the  United  States — an  army  composed  of  regulars 
and  volunteers  alike — was  necessary.  To  put  down  the 
insurrection  and  restore  peace  to  the  islands  was  a  duty 
not  only  to  ourselves  but  to  the  islanders  also.  We  could 
not  have  abandoned  the  conflict  without  shirking  this 
duty,  without  proving  ourselves  recreants  to  the  memory 
of  our  forefathers.  Moreover,  if  we  had  abandoned  it 
we  would  have  inflicted  upon  the  Filipinos  the  most  cruel 
wrong  and  would  have  doomed  them  to  a  bloody  jumble 
of  anarchy  and  tyranny.  It  seems  strange,  looking  back, 
that  any  of  our  people  should  have  failed  to  recognize 
a  duty  so  obvious ;  but  there  was  such  failure,  and  the 


i  $6  ADDRESSES 

Government  at  home,  the  civil  authorities  in  the  Philip 
pines,  and  above  all  our  gallant  army,  had  to  do  their 
work  amid  a  storm  of  detraction.  The  army  in  especial 
was  attacked  in  a  way  which  finally  did  good,  for  in  the 
end  it  aroused  the  hearty  resentment  of  the  great  body 
of  the  American  people,  not  against  the  army,  but 
against  the  army's  traducers.  The  circumstances  of  the 
war  made  it  one  of  peculiar  difficulty,  and  our  soldiers 
were  exposed  to  peculiar  wrongs  from  their  foes.  They 
fought  in  dense  tropical  jungles  against  enemies  who  were 
very  treacherous  and  very  cruel^  not  only  toward  our  own 
men,  but  toward  the  great  numbers  of  friendly  natives, 
the  most  peaceable  and  most  civilized  among  whom 
eagerly  welcomed  our  rule.  Under  such  circumstances, 
among  a  hundred  thousand  hot-blooded  and  powerful 
young  men  serving  in  small  detachments  on  the  other 
side  of  the  globe,  it  was  impossible  that  occasional  in 
stances  of  wrong-doing  should  not  occur.  The  fact  that 
they  occurred  in  retaliation  for  well-nigh  intolerable  pro 
vocation  cannot  for  one  moment  be  admitted  in  the  way 
of  excuse  or  justification.  All  good  Americans  regret 
and  deplore  them,  and  the  War  Department  has  taken 
every  step  in  its  power  to  punish  the  offenders  and  to 
prevent  or  minimize  the  chance  of  repetition  of  the 
offence.  But  these  offences  were  the  exception  and  not 
the  rule.  As  a  whole,  our  troops  showed  not  only  signal 
courage  and  efficiency,  but  great  humanity  and  the  most 
sincere  desire  to  promote  the  welfare  and  liberties  of  the 
islanders.  In  a  series  of  exceedingly  harassing  and  diffi 
cult  campaigns  they  completely  overthrew  the  enemy, 
reducing  them  finally  to  a  condition  of  mere  brigandage ; 
and  wherever  they  conquered,  they  conquered  only  to 
make  way  for  the  rule  of  the  civil  government,  for  the 
introduction  of  law,  and  of  liberty  under  the  law.  When, 
by  last  July,  the  last  vestige  of  organized  insurrection 
had  disappeared,  peace  and  amnesty  were  proclaimed. 


FARGO  157 

As  rapidly  as  the  military  rule  was  extended  over  the 
islands  by  the  defeat  of  the  insurgents,  just  so  rapidly 
was  it  replaced  by  the  civil  government.  At  the  present 
time  the  civil  government  is  supreme  and  the  army  in  the 
Philippines  has  been  reduced  until  it  is  sufficient  merely 
to  provide  against  the  recurrence  of  trouble.  In  Gov 
ernor  Taft  and  his  associates  we  sent  to  the  Filipinos  as 
upright,  as  conscientious,  and  as  able  a  group  of  adminis 
trators  as  ever  any  country  has  been  blessed  with  having. 
With  them  and  under  them  we  have  associated  the  best 
men  among  the  Filipinos,  so  that  the  great  majority  of  the 
officials,  including  many  of  the  highest  rank,  are  them 
selves  natives  of  the  islands.  The  administration  is  in- 
corruptibly  honest;  justice  is  as  jealously  safeguarded  as 
here  at  home.  The  government  is  conducted  purely  in 
the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  islands ;  they  are  pro 
tected  in  their  religious  and  civil  rights;  they  have  been 
given  an  excellent  and  well-administered  school  system, 
and  each  of  them  now  enjoys  rights  to  "life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness"  such  as  were  never  before 
known  in  all  the  history  of  the  islands. 

The  Congress  which  has  just  adjourned  has  passed 
legislation  of  high  importance  and  great  wisdom  in  the 
interests  of  the  Filipino  people.  First  and  foremost, 
they  conferred  upon  them  by  law  the  present  admirable 
civil  government ;  in  addition  they  gave  them  an  excel 
lent  currency  ;  they  passed  a  measure  allowing  the  organi 
zation  of  a  native  constabulary;  and  they  provided,  in 
the  interests  of  the  islands,  for  a  reduction  of  twenty-five 
per  cent,  in  the  tariff  on  Filipino  articles  brought  to  this 
country.  I  asked  that  a  still  further  reduction  should  be 
made.  It  was  not  granted  by  the  last  Congress,  but  I 
think  that  in  some  shape  it  will  be  granted  by  the  next. 
And  even  without  it,  the  record  of  legislation  in  the  in 
terests  of  the  Filipinos  is  one  with  which  we  have  a  right 
to  feel  great  satisfaction. 


158  ADDRESSES 

Moreover,  Congress  appropriated  three  million  dollars, 
following  the  precedent  it  set  when  the  people  of  Porto 
Rico  were  afflicted  by  sudden  disaster ;  this  money  to  be 
used  by  the  Philippine  Government  in  order  to  meet  the 
distress  occasioned  primarily  by  the  terrible  cattle  disease 
which  almost  annihilated  the  carabao  or  water-buffalo, 
the  chief  and  most  important  domestic  animal  in  the 
islands.  Coming  as  this  disaster  did  upon  the  heels  of 
the  havoc  wrought  by  the  insurrectionary  war,  great  suf 
fering  has  been  caused ;  and  this  misery,  for  which  this 
Government  is  in  no  way  responsible,  will  doubtless  in 
turn  increase  the  difficulties  of  the  Philippine  Govern 
ment  for  the  next  year  or  so.  In  consequence  there  will 
doubtless  here  and  there  occur  sporadic  increases  of  the 
armed  brigandage  to  which  the  islands  have  been  habitu 
ated  from  time  immemorial,  and  here  and  there  for  their 
own  purposes  the  bandits  may  choose  to  [Style  themselves 
patriots  or  insurrectionists ;  but  these  local  difficulties  will 
be  of  little  consequence  saVe  as  they  give  occasion  to  a 
few  men  here  at  home  again  to  try  to  mislead  our  people. 
Not  only  has  the  military  problem  in  the  Philippines 
been  worked  out  quicker  and  better  than  we  had  dared 
to  expect,  but  the  progress  socially  and  in  civil  govern 
ment  has  likewise  exceeded  our  fondest  hopes. 

The  best  thing  that  can  be  done  in  handling  such  a 
problem  as  that  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  so  peculiar,  so 
delicate,  so  difficult,  and  so  remote,  is  to  put  the  best 
man  possible  in  charge  and  then  give  him  the  heartiest 
possible  support  and  the  freest  possible  hand.  This  is 
what  has  been  done  with  Governor  Taft.  There  is  not 
in  this  nation  a  higher  or  finer  type  of  public  servant 
than  Governor  Taft.  He  has  rendered  literally  inestim 
able  service,  not  only  to  the  people  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  but  also  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  by 
what  he  has  done  in  those  islands.  He  has  been  able  to 
do  it,  because  from  the  beginning  he  has  been  given 


FARGO  159 

absolute  support  by  the  War  Department,  under  Secre 
tary  Root.  With  the  cessation  of  organized  resistance 
the  civil  government  assumed  its  proper  position  of  head 
ship.  The  army  in  the  Philippines  is  now  one  of  the 
instruments  through  which  Governor  Taft  does  his  ad 
mirable  work.  The  civil  government,  of  which  Governor 
Taft  is  the  head,  is  supreme,  and  it  will  do  well  in  the 
future  as  it  has  in  the  past,  because  it  will  be  backed  up 
in  the  future  as  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

Remember  always  that  in  the  Philippines  the  American 
Government  has  tried  and  is  trying  to  carry  out  exactly 
what  the  greatest  genius  and  most  revered  patriot  ever 
known  in  the  Philippine  Islands — Jos£  Rizal — steadfastly 
advocated.  This  man,  shortly  before  his  death,  in  a 
message  to  his  countrymen,  under  date  of  December  16, 
1896,  condemned  unsparingly  the  insurrection  of  Aguin- 
aldo,  terminated  just  before  our  navy  appeared  upon  the 
scene,  and  pointed  out  the  path  his  people  should  follow 
to  liberty  and  enlightenment.  Speaking  of  the  insurrec 
tion  and  of  the  pretence  that  Filipino  independence  of  a 
wholesome  character  could  thereby  be  obtained,  he  wrote : 

When,  in  spite  of  my  advice,  a  movement  was  begun,  I 
offered  of  my  own  accord,  not  only  my  services,  but  my  life 
and  even  my  good  name  to  be  used  in  any  way  they  might 
believe  effective  in  stifling  the  rebellion.  I  thought  of  the  dis 
aster  which  would  follow  the  success  of  the  revolution,  and  I 
deemed  myself  fortunate  if  by  any  sacrifice  I  could  block  the 
progress  of  such  a  useless  calamity. 

My  countrymen,  I  have  given  proof  that  I  was  one  who 
sought  liberty  for  our  country  and  I  still  seek  it.  But  as  a 
first  step  I  insisted  upon  the  development  of  the  people  in 
order  that,  by  means  of  education  and  of  labor,  they  might 
acquire  the  proper  individual  character  and  force  which  would 
make  them  worthy  of  it.  In  my  writings  I  have  commended 
to  you  study  and  civic  virtue,  without  which  our  redemption 
does  not  exist.  I  cannot  do  less  than  condemn  this 


160  ADDRESSES 

absurd  and  savage  insurrection  planned  behind  my  back, 
which  dishonors  us  before  the  Filipinos  and  discredits  us  with 
those  who  otherwise  would  argue  in  our  behalf.  I  abominate 
its  cruelties  and  disavow  any  kind  of  connection  with  it,  re 
gretting  with  all  the  sorrow  of  my  soul  that  these  reckless  men 
have  allowed  themselves  to  be  deceived.  Let  them  return, 
then,  to  their  homes,  and  may  God  pardon  those  who  have 
acted  in  bad  faith. 

This  message  embodied  precisely  and  exactly  the 
avowed  policy  upon  which  the  American  Government  has 
acted  in  the  Philippines.  What  the  patriot  Rizal  said 
with  such  force  in  speaking  of  the  insurrection  before  we 
came  to  the  islands  applies  with  tenfold  greater  force  to 
those  who  foolishly  or  wickedly  opposed  the  mild  and 
beneficent  government  we  were  instituting  in  the  islands. 
The  judgment  of  the  martyred  public  servant,  Rizal, 
whose  birthday  the  Philippine  people  celebrate,  and 
whom  they  worship  as  their  hero  and  ideal,  sets  forth 
the  duty  of  American  sovereignty, — a  duty  from  which 
the  American  people  will  never  flinch. 

While  we  have  been  doing  these  great  and  beneficent 
works  in  the  islands,  we  have  yet  been  steadily  reducing 
the  cost  at  which  they  are  done.  The  last  Congress  re 
pealed  the  law  for  the  war  taxes,  and  the  War  Depart 
ment  has  reduced  the  army  from  the  maximum  number 
of  one  hundred  thousand  allowed  under  the  law  to  very 
nearly  the  minimum  of  sixty  thousand. 

Moreover,  the  last  Congress  enacted  some  admirable 
legislation  affecting  the  army,  passing  first  of  all  the 
militia  bill  and  then  the  bill  to  create  a  general  staff. 
The  militia  bill  represents  the  realization  of  a  reform 
which  had  been  championed  ineffectively  by  Washington, 
and  had  been  fruitlessly  agitated  ever  since.  At  last  we 
have  taken  from  the  statute  books  the  obsolete  militia 
law  of  the  Revolutionary  days  and  have  provided  for  effi 
cient  aid  to  the  National  Guard  of  the  States.  I  believe 


FARGO  161 

that  no  other  great  country  has  such  fine  natural  material 
for  volunteer  soldiers  as  we  have,  and  it  is  the  obvious 
duty  of  the  Nation  and  of  the  States  to  make  such  pro 
vision  as  will  enable  this  volunteer  soldiery  to  be  organ 
ized  with  all  possible  rapidity  and  efficiency  in  time  of 
war ;  and,  furthermore,  to  help  in  every  way  the  National 
Guard  in  time  of  peace.  The  militia  law  enacted  by  the 
Congress  marks  the  first  long  step  ever  taken  in  this 
direction  by  the  National  Government.  The  general- 
staff  law  is  of  immense  importance  and  benefit  to  the 
regular  army.  Individually,  I  would  not  admit  that 
the  American  regular,  either  officer  or  enlisted  man,  is 
inferior  to  any  other  regular  soldier  in  the  world.  In 
fact,  if  it  were  worth  while  to  boast,  I  should  be  tempted 
to  say  that  he  was  the  best.  But  there  must  be  proper 
training,  proper  organization,  and  administration,  in 
order  to  get  the  best  service  out  of  even  the  best  troops. 
This  is  particularly  the  case  with  such  a  small  army  as 
ours,  scattered  over  so  vast  a  country.  We  do  not  need 
a  large  regular  army,  but  we  do  need  to  have  our  small 
regular  army  the  very  best  that  can  possibly  be  pro 
duced.  Under  the  worn-out  and  ineffective  organization 
which  has  hitherto  existed,  a  sudden  strain  is  absolutely 
certain  to  produce  the  dislocation  and  confusion  we  saw 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain ;  and  when  such 
dislocation  and  confusion  occur  it  is  easy  and  natural, 
but  entirely  improper,  to  blame  the  men  who  happen  to 
be  in  office,  instead  of  the  system  which  is  really  respon 
sible.  Under  the  law  just  enacted  by  Congress  this  sys 
tem  will  be  changed  immensely  for  the  better,  and  every 
patriotic  American  ought  to  rejoice;  for  when  we  come 
to  the  army  and  the  navy  we  deal  with  the  honor  and 
interests  of  all  our  people;  and  when  such  is  the  case 
party  lines  are  as  nothing,  and  we  all  stand  shoulder  to 
shoulder  as  Americans,  moved  only  by  pride  in  and  love 
for  our  common  country. 


XXII 

AT  OMAHA,  NEBRASKA,  APRIL  27,   1903 

Mr.  Chairman,  and you ,  my  fellow -citizens: 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  come  before  you  this  evening. 
Since  Saturday  I  have  been  travelling  through  your  great 
and  beautiful  State.  I  know  your  people ;  I  have  been 
with  them ;  I  have  worked  with  them ;  and  it  is  indeed  a 
joy  to  come  here  now  and  see  from  one  end  of  your  State 
to  the  other  the  signs  of  your  abounding  prosperity.  I 
feel  that  the  future  of  Nebraska  is  secure.  There  will  be 
temporary  ups  and  downs,  and  of  course  if  any  of  you 
are  guilty  of  folly,  from  your  own  folly  nothing  can  save 
you  but  yourselves.  But  if  you  act  as  I  believe  and  trust 
that  you  will  act,  this  State  has  a  future  before  it  second 
to  that  of  no  other  State  in  this  great  Nation. 

I  address  you  to-night  on  the  anniversary  of  the  birth 
of  the  great  silent  soldier — Ulysses  Grant, — and  I  am  glad 
to  have  the  chance  of  saying  a  few  words  to  an  audience 
such  as  this  in  this  great  typical  city  of  the  West  on  the 
occasion  of  the  birthday  of  the  great  Western  general, 
the  great  American  general.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  pay 
homage  with  our  lips  to  the  illustrious  dead.  It  is  a 
good  thing  to  keep  in  mind  what  we  owe  to  the  memories 
of  Washington  and  his  fellows,  who  founded  this  mighty 
Republic,  to  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Grant  and  their  fel 
lows,  who  saved  it.  It  is  a  far  better  thing  to  pay  the 
homage  that  counts— the  homage  of  our  lives  and  our 
deeds.  Illustrious  memories  of  the  nation's  past  are  but 
curses  if  they  serve  the  men  of  the  nation  at  present  as 

162 


OMAHA  163 

excuses  for  shirking  the  problems  of  the  day.  They  are 
blessings  if  they  serve  to  spur  on  the  men  of  now  to  see 
that  they  act  as  well  in  their  time  as  the  men  of  yesterday 
did  in  theirs. 

Each  generation  has  its  peculiar  problems ;  each  genera 
tion  has  certain  tasks  allotted  to  it  to  do.  Shame  to  it  if 
it  treats  the  glorious  deeds  of  a  generation  that  went  be 
fore  as  an  excuse  for  its  own  failure  to  do  the  peculiar 
task  it  finds  ready  to  hand.  Upon  the  way  in  which  we 
solve  our  problems  will  depend  whether  our  children  and 
our  children's  children  shall  look  back  or  shall  not  look 
back  to  us  with  the  veneration  which  we  feel  for  the  men 
of  the  mighty  years  of  the  Civil  War.  Our  task  is  a 
lighter  one  than  theirs,  but  it  is  an  important  one,  and  do 
it  we  must,  if  we  wish  to  rise  level  to  the  standard  set  us 
by  our  forefathers.  You  in  Nebraska  have  passed  through 
periods  of  terrible  privation,  of  misery  and  hardship. 
They  were  evil  times.  And  yet,  there  is  no  experience, 
no  evil,  that  out  of  it  good  cannot  come,  if  only  we  look 
at  it  right.  Things  are  better  now.  Things  can  be  kept 
better,  but  only  on  condition  that  we  face  facts  with  cool 
ness  and  sanity,  with  clear-eyed  vision  that  tells  us  what 
is  true  and  what  is  false.  When  things  go  wrong  there 
is  another  tendency  in  humanity  to  wish  to  blame  some 
of  its  fellows.  It  is  a  natural  tendency,  and  by  no  means 
always  a  wholesome  tendency.  There  is  always  a  tend 
ency  to  feel  that  somehow  by  legislation,  by  the  enact 
ment  of  some  law,  by  the  trying  of  some  patent  scheme, 
things  can  be  made  permanently  better.  Now,  something 
can  be  done  by  law.  A  good  deal  can  be  done  by  law. 
Even  more  can  be  done  by  the  honest  administration  of 
the  law ;  an  administration  which  knows  neither  fear  nor 
favor,  which  treats  each  man  exactly  as  that  man's  record 
entitles  him  to  be  treated ;  the  kind  of  enforcement  of 
the  law  which  I  think  I  may  promise  that  you  will  have 
while  Mr.  Knox  remains  Attorney-General.  But  more 


164  ADDRESSES 

than  the  law,  far  more  than  the  administration  of  the 
law,  depends  upon  the  individual  quality  of  the  average 
citizen.  The  chief  factor  in  winning  success  for  your 
State,  for  the  people  in  the  State,  must  be  what  the  chief 
factor  in  winning  the  success  of  a  people  has  been  from 
the  beginning  of  time — the  character  of  the^  individual 
man,  of  the  individual  woman. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  homage  we  should  pay  to  the 
memory  of  Grant.  It  is  the  homage  we  should  pay  to 
the  memory  of  Lincoln,  the  homage  we  should  pay  to 
all  of  our  fellow-countrymen  who  have  at  any  time  ren 
dered  great  service  to  the  Republic,  and  it  can  be  rendered 
in  most  efficient  form  not  by  merely  praising  them  for 
having  dealt  with  problems  which  now  we  do  not  have  to 
face,  but  by  facing  our  problems  in  the  same  spirit  in 
which  they  faced  theirs.  Nothing  was  more  noteworthy 
in  all  of  Lincoln's  character  than  the  way  in  which  he 
combined  fealty  to  the  loftiest  ideal  with  a  thoroughly 
practical  capacity  to  achieve  that  ideal  by  practical 
methods.  He  did  not  war  with  phantoms;  he  did  not 
struggle  among  the  clouds ;  he  faced  facts ;  he  endeavored 
to  get  the  best  results  he  could  out  of  the  warring  forces 
with  which  he  had  to  deal.  When  he  could  not  get  the 
best  he  was  forced  to  content  himself,  and  did  content 
himself,  with  the  best  possible.  What  he  did  in  his  day 
we  must  do  in  ours.  It  is  not  possible  to  lay  down  any 
rule  of  conduct  so  specific  that  it  will  enable  us  to  meet 
each  particular  issue  as  it  arises.  All  that  can  be  done  is 
to  lay  down  certain  general  rules,  and  then  to  try,  each 
man  for  himself,  to  apply  those  general  rules  to  the 
specific  cases  that  come  up. 

Our  complex  industrial  civilization  has  not  only  been 
productive  of  much  benefit,  but  has  also  brought  us  face 
to  face  with  many  puzzling  problems;  problems  that  are 
puzzling,  partly  because  there  are  men  that  are  wicked, 
partly  because  there  are  good  men  who  are  foolish  or 


OMAHA  165 

short-sighted.  There  are  many  such  to-day — the  prob 
lems  of  labor  and  capital,  the  problems  which  we  group 
together  rather  vaguely  when  we  speak  of  the  problems 
of  the  trusts,  the  problems  affecting  the  farmers  on  the 
one  hand,  the  railroads  on  the  other.  It  would  not  be  pos 
sible  in  any  one  place  to  deal  with  the  particular  shapes 
which  these  problems  take  at  that  time  and  in  that  place. 
And  yet,  there  are  certain  general  rules  which  can  be  laid 
down  for  dealing  with  them,  and  those  rules  are  the  im 
mutable  rules  of  justice,  of  sanity,  of  courage,  of  com 
mon-sense.  Six  months  ago  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  appoint 
a  commission  to  investigate  into  and  conclude  about 
matters  connected  with  the  great  and  menacing  strike  in 
the  anthracite  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania.  On  that  com 
mission  I  appointed  representatives  of  the  church,  of  the 
bench,  of  the  army,  a  representative  of  the  capitalists  of 
the  region,  and  a  representative  of  organized  labor.  They 
published  a  report  which  was  not  only  of  the  utmost  mo 
ment  because  of  dealing  with  the  great  and  vital  problem 
with  which  they  were  appointed  to  deal,  but  also  because 
in  its  conclusions  it  initiated  certain  general  rules  in  so 
clear  and  masterful  a  fashion  that  I  wish  most  earnestly 
it  could  receive  the  broadest  circulation  as  a  tract  wher 
ever  there  exists  or  threatens  to  exist  trouble  in  any  way 
akin  to  that  with  which  those  commissioners  dealt. 

If  I  might  give  a  word  of  advice  to  Omaha,  I  should 
like  to  see  your  daily  press  publish  in  full  the  concluding 
portion  of  that  report  of  the  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Com 
mission,  signed  by  all  the  members  thereof,  by  those  in 
a  special  sense  the  champion  of  the  wage  worker,  and  by 
those  in  a  special  sense  identified  with  capital,  organized 
or  unorganized,  because,  men  and  women  of  Omaha, 
those  people  did  not  speak  first  as  capitalist  or  as  laborer, 
did  not  speak  first  as  judge,  as  army  man,  as  church  man, 
but  all  of  them  signed  that  report  as  American  citizens 
anxious  to  see  right  and  justice  prevail.  No  one  quality 


166  ADDRESSES 

will  get  us  out  of  any  difficulty.  We  need  more  than 
one;  we  need  a  good  many.  We  need,  as  I  said,  the 
power  first  of  each  man's  honestly  trying  to  look  at 
the  problem  from  his  fellow's  standpoint.  Capitalist  and 
wage  worker  alike,  should  honestly  endeavor  each  to  look 
at  any  matter  from  the  other's  standpoint,  with  a  free 
dom  on  the  one  hand  from  the  contemptible  arrogance 
which  looks  down  upon  the  man  of  less  means,  and,  on 
the  other,  from  the  no  less  contemptible  envy,  jealousy, 
and  rancor,  which  hates  another  because  he  is  better  off. 
Each  quality  is  the  supplement  of  the  other,  and  in  point 
of  baseness  there  is  not  the  weight  of  a  finger  to  choose 
between  them.  Look  at  the  report  signed  by  those  men  ; 
look  at  it  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  wrote  it,  and  if  you 
can  only  make  yourselves,  make  this  community,  ap 
proach  the  problems  of  to-day  in  the  spirit  that  those 
men,  your  fellows,  showed  in  approaching  the  problem 
of  yesterday,  your  problems  will  be  solved. 

Any  man  who  tries  to  excite  class  hatred,  sectional  hate, 
hate  of  creeds,  any  kind  of  hatred  in  our  community, 
though  he  may  affect  to  do  it  in  the  interest  of  the  class 
he  is  addressing,  is  in  the  long  run  with  absolute  certainty 
that  class's  own  worst  enemy.  In  the  long  run,  and  as  a 
whole,  we  are  going  to  go  up  or  go  down  together.  Of 
course  there  will  be  individual  exceptions,  small,  local  ex 
ceptions,  exceptions  in  kind,  exceptions  in  place ;  but  as 
a  whole,  if  the  commonwealth  prospers,  some  measure  of 
prosperity  comes  to  all  of  us.  If  it  is  not  prosperous, 
then  the  adversity,  though  it  may  fall  unequally  upon  us, 
will  weigh  more  or  less  upon  all.  It  lies  with  us  our 
selves  to  determine  our  own  fate.  I  cannot  too  often  say 
that  the  wisest  law,  the  best  administration  of  the  law,  can 
do  naught  more  than  give  us  a  fair  field  in  which  to  work 
out  that  fate  aright.  If  as  individuals,  or  as  a  community, 
we  mar  our  future  by  our  own  folly,  let  us  remember 
that  it  is  upon  ourselves  that  the  responsibility  must  rest. 


XXIII 

AT  ODEON  HALL,  ST.  LOUIS,  MISSOURI,  BEFORE 
THE  NATIONAL  AND  INTERNATIONAL  GOOD 
ROADS  CONVENTION,  APRIL  29,  1903 

Mr.  Chairman,  ladies,  and  gentlemen  : 

When  we  wish  to  use  descriptive  terms  fit  to  character 
ize  great  empires  and  the  man  who  made  those  empires 
great,  invariably  one  of  the  terms  used  is  to  signify  that 
that  empire  built  good  roads.  When  we  speak  of  the 
Romans,  we  speak  of  them  as  rulers,  as  conquerors,  as 
administrators,  as  road-builders.  There  were  empires 
that  rose  overnight  and  fell  overnight,  empires  whose 
influence  was  absolutely  evanescent,  which  have  passed 
away  without  leaving  a  trace  of  their  former  existence; 
but  wherever  the  Roman  established  his  rule  the  traces 
of  that  rule  remain  deep  to-day,  stamped  on  the  language 
and  customs  of  the  people,  or  stamped  in  tangible  form 
upon  the  soil  itself.  And  so  passing  through  Britain 
fifteen  centuries  and  over  after  the  dominion  of  Rome 
passed  away  the  Roman  roads  as  features  still  remain ; 
going  through  Italy  where  power  after  power  has  arisen, 
and  flourished,  and  vanished  since  the  days  when  the 
temporal  dominion  of  the  Roman  Emperors  transferred 
its  seat  from  Rome  to  Byzantium — going  through  Italy 
after  the  Lombard,  the  Goth,  the  Byzantine,  and  all  the 
people  of  the  Middle  Ages  that  have  ruled  that  country, 
— it  is  the  imperishable  Roman  road  that  reappears. 

The  faculty,  the  art,  the  habit,  of  road  building  marks 
in  a  nation  those  solid,  stable  qualities  which  tell  for 
permanent  greatness.  Merely  from  the  standpoint  of 

167 


1 68  ADDRESSES 

historic  analogy  we  should  have  a  right  to  ask  that  this 
people  which  has  tamed  a  continent,  which  has  built  up  a 
country  with  a  continent  for  its  base,  which  boasts  itself, 
with  truth,  as  the  mightiest  Republic  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  which  I  firmly  believe  will  in  the  century  now 
opening  rise  to  a  position  of  headship  and  leadership  such 
as  no  other  nation  has  ever  yet  attained, — merely  from 
historic  analogy,  I  say,  we  should  have  a  right  to  demand 
that  such  a  nation  build  good  roads.  Much  more  have 
we  the  right  to  demand  it  from  the  practical  standpoint. 
The  great  difference  between  the  semi-barbarism  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  the  civilization  which  succeeded  it  was 
the  difference  between  poor  and  good  means  of  communi 
cation.  And  we  to  whom  space  is  less  of  an  obstacle 
than  ever  it  was  in  the  history  of  any  other  nation,  we  who 
have  spanned  a  continent,  who  have  thrust  our  border 
westward  in  the  course  of  a  century  and  a  quarter  until 
it  has  gone  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Alleghanies,  from 
the  Alleghanies  down  into  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
across  the  great  plains,  over  the  Rockies  to  where  the 
Golden  Gate  lets  through  the  long  heaving  waters  of  the 
Pacific,  and  finally  to  Alaska,  to  the  Arctic  regions,  to 
the  tropic  islands  of  the  sea — we  who  take  so  little  ac 
count  of  mere  space,  must  see  to  it  that  the  best  means 
of  nullifying  the  existence  of  space  are  at  our  command. 
Of  course,  during  the  last  century  there  has  been  an 
altogether  phenomenal  growth  of  one  kind  of  road  wholly 
unknown  to  the  people  of  an  earlier  period — the  iron 
road.  The  railroad  is,  of  course,  something  purely 
modern.  A  great  many  excellent  people  have  proceeded 
upon  the  assumption  that  somehow  or  other  having  good 
railways  should  be  a  substitute  for  having  good  high 
ways,  good  ordinary  roads.  A  more  untenable  position 
cannot  be  imagined.  What  the  railway  does  is  to  develop 
the  country ;  and  of  course  its  development  implies  that 
the  developed  country  will  need  more  and  better  roads. 


GOOD  ROADS  CONVENTION  169 

A  few  years  ago  it  was  a  matter  of  national  humiliation 
that  there  should  be  so  little  attention  paid  to  our  roads ; 
that  there  should  be  a  willingness  not  merely  to  refrain 
from  making  good  roads,  but  to  let  the  roads  that  were 
in  existence  become  worse.  I  cannot  too  heartily  con 
gratulate  our  people  upon  the  existence  of  a  body  such 
as  this,  ramifying  into  every  section  of  the  country,  hav 
ing  its  connections  in  every  State  of  the  country,  and 
bent  upon  that  eminently  proper  work  of  making  the 
conditions  of  life  easier  and  better  for  the  people  whom 
of  all  others  we  can  least  afford  to  see  grow  discontented 
with  their  lot  in  life — the  people  who  live  in  the  country 
districts.  The  extraordinary,  the  wholly  unheard-of,  rate 
of  our  industrial  development  during  the  past  seventy- 
five  years,  together  with  the  good  sides  has  had  some  evil 
sides.  It  is  a  fine  thing  to  see  our  cities  built  up,  but 
not  at  the  expense  of  the  country  districts.  The  healthy 
thing  to  see  is  the  building  up  of  both  the  country  and 
city  go  hand  in  hand.  But  we  cannot  expect  the  ablest, 
the  most  eager,  the  most  ambitious  young  men  to  stay  in 
the  country,  to  stay  on  the  farm,  unless  they  have  certain 
advantages.  If  the  farm  life  is  a  life  of  isolation,  a  life  in 
which  it  is  a  matter  of  great  and  real  difficulty  for  one 
man  to  communicate  with  his  neighbor,  you  can  rest  as 
sured  that  there  will  be  a  tendency  to  leave  it  on  the  part 
of  those  very  people  whom  we  should  most  wish  to  see 
stay  in  it.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  encourage  in  every  way 
any  tendency  which  will  tend  to  check  an  unhealthy  flow 
from  the  country  to  the  city.  There  are  several  such 
tendencies  in  evidence  at  present.  The  growth  of  elec 
tricity  as  a  means  of  transportation  tends  to  a  certain 
degree  to  exercise  a  centrifugal  force  to  offset  the  cen 
tripetal  force  of  steam.  Exactly  as  steam  and  electricity- 
have  tended  to  gather  men  in  masses,  so  now  electricity, 
as  applied  to  the  purposes  which  steam  has  so  long 
claimed  as  exclusively  its  own,  tends  again  to  scatter  out 


1 70  ADDRESSES 

the  masses.  The  trolley  lines  that  go  out  into  the  coun 
try  are  doing  a  great  deal  to  render  it  more  possible  to 
live  in  the  country  and  yet  not  to  lose  wholly  the  advan 
tages  of  the  town.  The  telephone  is  not  to  be  minimized 
as  an  instrument  with  a  tendency  in  the  same  direction ; 
and  rural  free  delivery  is  playing  its  part  along  the  same 
lines.  But  no  one  thing  can  do  more  to  offset  the  tend 
ency  toward  an  unhealthy  growth  from  the  country  into 
the  city  than  the  making  and  keeping  of  good  roads. 
They  are  needed  for  the  sake  of  their  effect  upon  the  in 
dustrial  conditions  of  the  country  districts ;  and  I  am  al 
most  tempted  to  say  they  are  needed  for  the  sake  of  social 
conditions  in  the  country  districts.  If  winter  means  to 
the  average  farmer  the  existence  of  a  long  line  of  liquid 
morasses  through  which  he  is  to  move  his  goods  if  bent 
on  business,  or  to  wade  and  swim  if  bent  on  pleasure ;  if 
winter  means  that  after  an  ordinary  rain  the  farmer  boy 
or  girl  cannot  use  his  or  her  bicycle;  if  a  little  heavy 
weather  means  a  stoppage  of  all  communication  not  only 
with  industrial  centres  but  with  the  neighbors,  you  must 
expect  that  there  will  be  a  great  many  young  people  of 
both  sexes  who  will  not  find  farm  life  attractive.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  I  feel  the  work  you  are  doing  is  so 
pre-eminently  one  in  the  interest  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 
I  congratulate  you  upon  the  fact  that  you  are  doing  it. 
In  our  American  life  it  would  be  hard  to  overestimate 
the  amount  of  good  that  has  been  accomplished  by  as 
sociations  of  individuals  who  have  gathered  together  to 
work  for  a  common  object  which  was  to  be  of  benefit  to 
the  community  as  a  whole ;  and  among  all  the  excellent 
objects  for  which  men  and  women  combine  to  work  to 
day,  there  are  few  indeed  which  have  a  better  right  to 
command  the  energies  of  those  engaged  in  the  movement, 
and  the  hearty  sympathy  and  support  of  those  outside, 
than  this  movement  in  which  you  are  engaged. 


XXIV 

AT  ST.  LOUIS  UNIVERSITY,  ST.  LOUIS,  MISSOURI, 
APRIL  29,   1903 

Cardinal  Gibbons,  gentlemen,  and  ladies  : 

It  is  indeed  a  pleasure  to  be  received  here  as  a  guest  of 
the  first  and  oldest  university  founded  in  our  country 
west  of  the  Mississippi  River  in  the  Louisiana  Purchase. 
I  know  your  work.  I  have  myself  been  much  in  the 
West,  and  I  have  come  across  the  traces  of  your  work, 
both  among  the  communities  of  our  own  people  and 
among  the  Indian  tribes. 

I  thank  you  personally  for  your  kind  allusions  to  me, 
and  would  hold  myself  recreant  to  the  principles  upon 
which  this  Government  was  founded  did  I  not  strive  as 
Chief  Executive  to  do  fair  and  equal  justice  to  all  men 
without  regard  to  the  way  in  which  any  man  chooses  to 
worship  his  Maker.  I  thank  you  for  your  greeting.  I 
appreciate  it,  and  I  can  assure  you,  you  are  not  as  glad 
to  have  me  as  I  am  to  be  here. 


171 


XXV 

AT  THE  DEDICATION  CEREMONIES  OF  THE 
LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  EXPOSITION,  ST. 
LOUIS,  MISSOURI,  APRIL  30,  1903 

Mr.  President,  ladies,  and  gentlemen  : 

At  the  outset  of  my  address  let  me  recall  to  the  minds 
of  my  hearers  that  the  soil  upon  which  we  stand,  before 
it  was  ours,  was  successively  the  possession  of  two  mighty 
empires,  Spain  and  France,  whose  sons  made  a  deathless 
record  of  heroism  in  the  early  annals  of  the  New  World. 
No  history  of  the  Western  country  can  be  written  with 
out  paying  heed  to  the  wonderful  part  played  therein  in 
the  early  days  by  the  soldiers,  missionaries,  explorers, 
and  traders,  who  did  their  work  for  the  honor  of  the 
proud  banners  of  France  and  Castile.  While  the  settlers 
of  English-speaking  stock,  and  those  of  Dutch,  German, 
and  Scandinavian  origin  who  were  associated  with  them, 
were  still  clinging  close  to  the  Eastern  seaboard,  the 
pioneers  of  Spain  and  of  France  had  penetrated  deep 
into  the  hitherto  unknown  wilderness  of  the  West, 
and  had  wandered  far  and  wide  within  the  boundaries 
of  what  is  now  our  mighty  country.  The  very  cities 
themselves  —  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans,  Santa  Fe"  —  bear 
witness  by  their  titles  to  the  nationalities  of  their  found 
ers.  It  was  not  until  the  Revolution  had  begun  that 
the  English-speaking  settlers  pushed  west  across  the 
Alleghanies,  and  not  until  a  century  ago  that  they  en 
tered  in  to  possess  the  land  upon  which  we  now  stand. 

We  have  met  here  to-day  to  commemorate  the  hun- 

172 


ST.  LOUIS  EXPOSITION  173 

dredth  anniversary  of  the  event  which  more  than  any 
other,  after  the  foundation  of  the  Government  and  always 
excepting  its  preservation,  determined  the  character  of 
our  national  life — determined  that  we  should  be  a  great 
expanding  nation  instead  of  relatively  a  small  and  station 
ary  one. 

Of  course  it  was  not  with  the  Louisiana  Purchase  that 
our  career  of  expansion  began.  In  the  middle  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  the  Illinois  region,  including  the 
present  States  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  was  added  to  our 
domain  by  force  of  arms,  as  a  sequel  to  the  adventurous 
expedition  of  George  Rogers  Clarke  and  his  frontier  rifle 
men.  Later  the  treaties  of  Jay  and  Pinckney  materially 
extended  our  real  boundaries  to  the  west.  But  none  of 
these  events  was  of  so  striking  a  character  as  to  fix  the 
popular  imagination.  The  old  thirteen  colonies  had 
always  claimed  that  their  rights  stretched  westward  to 
the  Mississippi,  and  vague  and  unreal  though  these  claims 
were  until  made  good  by  conquest,  settlement,  and  diplo 
macy,  they  still  served  to  give  the  impression  that  the  ear 
liest  westward  movements  of  our  people  were  little  more 
than  the  filling  in  of  already  existing  national  boundaries. 

But  there  could  be  no  illusion  about  the  acquisition  of 
the  vast  territory  beyond  the  Mississippi,  stretching  west 
ward  to  the  Pacific,  which  in  that  day  was  known  as 
Louisiana.  This  immense  region  was  admittedly  the 
territory  of  a  foreign  power,  of  a  European  kingdom. 
None  of  our  people  had  ever  laid  claim  to  a  foot  of  it. 
Its  acquisition  could  in  no  sense  be  treated  as  rounding 
out  any  existing  claims.  When  we  acquired  it  we  made 
evident  once  for  all  that  consciously  and  of  set  purpose 
we  had  embarked  on  a  career  of  expansion,  that  we  had 
taken  our  place  among  those  daring  and  hardy  nations 
who  risk  much  with  the  hope  and  desire  of  winning  high 
position  among  the  great  powers  of  the  earth.  As  is 
so  often  the  case  in  nature,  the  law  of  development  of  a 


174  ADDRESSES 

living  organism  showed  itself  in  its  actual  workings  to  be 
wiser  than  the  wisdom  of  the  wisest. 

This  work  of  expansion  was  by  far  the  greatest  work 
of  our  people  during  the  years  that  intervened  between 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  and  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War.  There  were  other  questions  of  real  moment 
and  importance,  and  there  were  many  which  at  the  time 
seemed  such  to  those  engaged  in  answering  them;  but 
the  greatest  feat  of  our  forefathers  of  those  generations 
was  the  deed  of  the  men  who,  with  pack-train  or  wagon- 
train,  on  horseback,  on  foot,  or  by  boat  upon  the  waters, 
pushed  the  frontier  ever  westward  across  the  continent. 

Never  before  had  the  world  seen  the  kind  of  national 
expansion  which  gave  our  people  all  that  part  of  the 
American  continent  lying  west  of  the  thirteen  original 
States;  the  greatest  landmark  in  which  was  the  Louisiana 
Purchase.  Our  triumph  in  this  process  of  expansion  was 
indissolubly  bound  up  with  the  success  of  our  peculiar 
kind  of  federal  government ;  and  this  success  has  been  so 
complete  that  because  of  its  very  completeness  we  now 
sometimes  fail  to  appreciate  not  only  the  all-importance 
but^bhe  tremendous  difficulty  of  the  problem  with  which 
our  nation  was  originally  faced. 

When  our  forefathers  joined  to  call  into  being  this 
nation,  they  undertook  a  task  for  which  there  was  but 
little  encouraging  precedent.  The  development  of  civili 
zation  from  the  earliest  period  seemed  to  show  the  truth 
of  two  propositions:  In  the  first  place,  it  had  always 
proved  exceedingly  difficult  to  secure  both  freedom  and 
strength  in  any  government ;  and  in  the  second  place,  it 
had  always  proved  well-nigh  impossible  for  a  nation  to 
expand  without  either  breaking  up  or  becoming  a  central 
ized  tyranny.  With  the  success  of  our  effort  to  combine 
a  strong  and  efficient  national  union,  able  to  put  down 
disorder  at  home  and  to  maintain  our  honor  and  interest 
abroad,  I  have  not  now  to  deal.  This  success  was  signal 


57:  LOUIS  EXPOSITION  175 

and  all-important,  but  it  was  by  no  means  unprecedented 
in  the  same  sense  that  our  type  of  expansion  was  unpre 
cedented.  The  history  of  Rome  and  of  Greece  illustrates 
very  well  the  two  types  of  expansion  which  had  taken 
place  in  ancient  time  and  which  had  been  universally  ac 
cepted  as  the  only  possible  types  up  to  the  period  when 
as  a  nation  we  ourselves  began  to  take  possession  of  this 
continent.  The  Grecian  states  performed  remarkable 
feats  of  colonization,  but  each  colony  as  soon  as  created 
became  entirely  independent  of  the  mother  state,  and  in 
after  years  was  almost  as  apt  to  prove  its  enemy  as  its 
friend.  Local  self-government,  local  independence,  was 
secured,  but  only  by  the  absolute  sacrifice  of  anything 
resembling  national  unity.  In  consequence,  the  Greek 
world,  for  all  its  wonderful  brilliancy  and  the  extraordinary 
artistic,  literary,  and  philosophical  development  which 
has  made  all  mankind  its  debtors  for  the  ages,  was  yet 
wholly  unable  to  withstand  a  formidable  foreign  foe,  save 
spasmodically.  As  soon  as  powerful,  permanent  empires 
arose  on  its  outskirts,  the  Greek  states  in  the  neighborhood 
of  such  empires  fell  under  their  sway.  National  power 
and  greatness  were  completely  sacrificed  to  local  liberty. 

With  Rome  the  exact  opposite  occurred.  The  imperial 
city  rose  to  absolute  dominion  over  all  the  peoples  of 
Italy  and  then  expanded  her  rule  over  the  entire  civilized 
world  by  a  process  which  kept  the  nation  strong  and 
united,  but  gave  no  room  whatever  for  local  liberty  and 
self-government.  All  other  cities  and  countries  were 
subject  to  Rome.  In  consequence  this  great  and  mas 
terful  race  of  warriors,  rulers,  road-builders,  and  adminis 
trators  stamped  their  indelible  impress  upon  all  the 
after-life  of  our  race,  and  yet  let  an  over-centralization  eat 
out  the  vitals  of  their  empire  until  it  became  an  empty 
shell ;  so  that  when  the  barbarians  came  they  destroyed 
only  what  had  already  become  worthless  to  the  world. 

The  underlying  viciousness  of  each  type  of  expansion 


176  ADDRESSES 

was  plain  enough  and  the  remedy  now  seems  simple 
enough.  But  when  the  fathers  of  the  Republic  first 
formulated  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live  this 
remedy  was  untried  and  no  one  could  foretell  how  it 
would  work.  They  themselves  began  the  experiment 
almost  immediately  by  adding  new  States  to  the  original 
thirteen.  Excellent  people  in  the  East  viewed  this 
initial  expansion  of  the  country  with  great  alarm. 
Exactly  as  during  the  colonial  period  many  good  people 
in  the  mother  country  thought  it  highly  important  that 
settlers  should  be  kept  out  of  the  Ohio  valley  in  the  in 
terest  of  the  fur  companies,  so  after  we  had  become  a 
nation  many  good  people  on  the  Atlantic  coast  felt 
grave  apprehension  lest  they  might  somehow  be  hurt  by 
the  westward  growth  of  the  nation.  These  good  people 
shook  their  heads  over  the  formation  of  States  in  the 
fertile  Ohio  valley  which  now  forms  part  of  the  heart  of 
our  nation ;  and  they  declared  that  the  destruction  of 
the  Republic  had  been  accomplished  when  through  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  we  acquired  nearly  half  of  what  is 
now  that  same  Republic's  present  territory.  Nor  was 
their  feeling  unnatural.  Only  the  adventurous  and  the 
far-seeing  can  be  expected  heartily  to  welcome  the  pro 
cess  of  expansion,  for  the  nation  that  expands  is  a  nation 
which  is  entering  upon  a  great  career,  and  with  greatness 
there  must  of  necessity  come  perils  which  daunt  all  save 
the  most  stout-hearted. 

We  expanded  by  carving  the  wilderness  into  Territories 
and  out  of  these  Territories  building  new  States  when 
once  they  had  received  as  permanent  settlers  a  sufficient 
number  of  our  own  people.  Being  a  practical  nation  we 
have  never  tried  to  force  on  any  section  of  our  new  terri 
tory  an  unsuitable  form  of  government  merely  because 
it  was  suitable  for  another  section  under  different  con 
ditions.  Of  the  territory  covered  by  the  Louisiana  Pur 
chase  a  portion  was  given  statehood  within  a  few  years. 


ST.  LOUIS  EXPOSITION  177 

Another  portion  has  not  been  admitted  to  statehood, 
although  a  century  has  elapsed — although  doubtless  it 
soon  will  be.  In  each  case  we  showed  the  practical  gov 
ernmental  genius  of  our  race  by  devising  methods  suitable 
to  meet  the  actual  existing  needs ;  not  by  insisting  upon 
the  application  of  some  abstract  shibboleth  to  all  our  new 
possessions  alike,  no  matter  how  incongruous  this  appli 
cation  might  sometimes  be. 

Over  by  far  the  major  part  of  the  territory,  however, 
our  people  spread  in  such  numbers  during  the  course  of 
the  nineteenth  century  that  we  were  able  to  build  up 
State  after  State,  each  with  exactly  the  same  complete 
local  independence  in  all  matters  affecting  purely  its  own 
domestic  interests  as  in  any  of  the  original  thirteen  States 
— each  owing  the  same  absolute  fealty  to  the  Union  of  all 
the  States  which  each  of  the  original  thirteen  States  also 
owes, — and  finally  each  having  the  same  proportional  right 
to  its  share  in  shaping  and  directing  the  common  policy 
of  the  Union  which  is  possessed  by  any  other  State, 
whether  of  the  original  thirteen  or  not. 

This  process  now  seems  to  us  part  of  the  natural  order 
of  things,  but  it  was  wholly  unknown  until  our  own  peo 
ple  devised  it.  It  seems  to  us  a  mere  matter  of  course, 
a  matter  of  elementary  right  and  justice,  that  in  the  de 
liberations  of  the  national  representative  bodies  the  repre 
sentatives  of  a  State  which  came  into  the  Union  but 
yesterday  stand  pn  a  footing  of  exact  and  entire  equality 
with  those  of  the  Commonwealths  whose  sons  once  signed 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  But  this  way  of  look 
ing  at  the  matter  is  purely  modern,  and  in  its  origin 
purely  American.  When  Washington  during  his  Presi 
dency  saw  new  States  come  into  the  Union  on  a  footing 
of  complete  equality  with  the  old,  every  European  nation 
which  had  colonies  still  administered  them  as  dependen 
cies,  and  every  other  mother  country  treated  the  colonist 
not  as  a  self-governing  equal  but  as  a  subject. 


178  ADDRESSES 

The  process  which  we  began  has  since  been  followed 
by  all  the  great  peoples  who  were  capable  both  of  expan 
sion  and  of  self-government,  and  now  the  world  accepts 
it  as  the  natural  process,  as  the  rule ;  but  a  century  and  a 
quarter  ago  it  was  not  merely  exceptional,  it  was  un 
known. 

This,  then,  is  the  great  historic  significance  of  the 
movement  of  continental  expansion  in  which  the  Louisi 
ana  Purchase  was  the  most  striking  single  achievement. 
It  stands  out  in  marked  relief  even  among  the  feats  of  a 
nation  of  pioneers,  a  nation  whose  people  have  from  the 
beginning  been  picked  out  by  a  process  of  natural  selection 
from  among  the  most  enterprising  individuals  of  the 
nations  of  western  Europe.  The  acquisition  of  the  terri 
tory  is  a  credit  to  the  broad  and  far-sighted  statesmanship 
of  the  great  statesmen  to  whom  it  was  immediately  due, 
and  above  all  to  the  aggressive  and  masterful  character  of 
the  hardy  pioneer  folk  to  whose  restless  energy  these 
statesmen  gave  expression  and  direction,  whom  they  fol 
lowed  rather  than  led.  The  history  of  the  land  comprised 
within  the  limits  of  the  Purchase  is  an  epitome  of  the 
entire  history  of  our  people.  Within  these  limits  we 
have  gradually  built  up  State  after  State  until  now  they 
many  times  over-surpass  in  wealth,  in  population,  and 
in  many-sided  development  the  original  thirteen  States 
as  they  were  when  their  delegates  met  in  the  Continental 
Congress.  The  people  of  these  States  have  shown  them 
selves  mighty  in  war  with  their  fellow-man,  and  mighty 
in  strength  to  tame  the  rugged  wilderness.  They  could 
not  thus  have  conquered  the  forest  and  the  prairie,  the 
mountain  and  the  desert,  had  they  not  possessed  the 
great  fighting  virtues,  the  qualities  which  enable  a  people 
to  overcome  the  forces  of  hostile  men  and  hostile  nature. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  could  not  have  used  aright  their 
conquest  had  they  not  in  addition  possessed  the  qualities 
of  self-mastery  and  self-restraint,  the  power  of  acting  in 


ST.  LOUIS  EXPOSITION  179 

combination  with  their  fellows,  the  power  of  yielding 
obedience  to  the  law  and  of  building  up  an  orderly 
civilization.  Courage  and  hardihood  are  indispensable 
virtues  in  a  people;  but  the  people  which  possesses  no 
others  can  never  rise  high  in  the  scale  either  of  power 
or  of  culture.  Great  peoples  must  have  in  addition  the 
governmental  capacity  which  comes  only  when  individu 
als  fully  recognize  their  duties  to  one  another  and  to  the 
whole  body  politic,  and  are  able  to  join  together  in  feats 
of  constructive  statesmanship  and  of  honest  and  effective 
administration. 

The  old  pioneer  days  are  gone,  with  their  roughness 
and  their  hardship,  their  incredible  toil  and  their  wild 
half-savage  romance.  But  the  need  for  the  pioneer 
virtues  remains  the  same  as  ever.  The  peculiar  frontier 
conditions  have  vanished  ;  but  the  manliness  and  stalwart 
hardihood  of  the  frontiersmen  can  be  given  even  freer 
scope  under  the  conditions  surrounding  the  complex 
industrialism  of  the  present  day.  In  this  great  region 
acquired  for  our  people  under  the  Presidency  of  Jeffer 
son,  this  region  stretching  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Canadian 
border,  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Rockies,  the  material 
and  social  progress  has  been  so  vast  that  alike  for  weal 
and  for  woe  its  people  now  share  the  opportunities  and 
bear  the  burdens  common  to  the  entire  civilized  world. 
The  problems  before  us  are  fundamentally  the  same  east 
and  west  of  the  Mississippi,  in  the  new  States  and  in  the 
old,  and  exactly  the  same  qualities  are  required  for  their 
successful  solution. 

We  meet  here  to-day  to  commemorate  a  great  event, 
an  event  which  marks  an  era  in  statesmanship  no  less 
than  in  pioneering.  It  is  fitting  that  we  should  pay  our 
homage  in  words ;  but  we  must  in  honor  make  our  words 
good  by  deeds.  We  have  every  right  to  take  a  just  pride 
in  the  great  deeds  of  our  forefathers ;  but  we  show  our 
selves  unworthy  to  be  their  descendants  if  we  make  what 


180  ADDRESSES 

they  did  an  excuse  for  our  lying  supine  instead  of  an  in 
centive  to  the  effort  to  show  ourselves  by  our  acts  worthy 
of  them.  In  the  administration  of  City,  State,  and 
Nation,  in  the  management  of  our  home  life  and  the  con 
duct  of  our  business  and  social  relations,  we  are  bound  to 
show  certain  high  and  fine  qualities  of  character  under 
penalty  of  seeing  the  whole  heart  of  our  civilization  eaten 
out  while  the  body  still  lives. 

We  justly  pride  ourselves  on  our  marvellous  material 
prosperity,  and  such  prosperity  must  exist  in  order  to 
establish  a  foundation  upon  which  a  higher  life  can  be 
built ;  but  unless  we  do  in  very  fact  build  this  higher  life 
thereon,  the  material  prosperity  itself  will  go  for  but  very 
little.  Now,  in  1903,  in  the  altered  conditions,  we  must 
meet  the  changed  and  changing  problems  with  the  spirit 
shown  by  the  men  who  in  1803  and  in  the  subsequent 
years  gained,  explored,  conquered,  and  settled  this  vast 
territory,  then  a  desert,  now  filled  with  thriving  and 
populous  States. 

The  old  days  were  great  because  the  men  who  lived  in 
them  had  mighty  qualities;  and  we  must  make  the  new 
days  great  by  showing  these  same  qualities.  We  must 
insist  upon  courage  and  resolution,  upon  hardihood,  ten 
acity,  and  fertility  in  resource;  we  must  insist  upon  the 
strong  virile  virtues ;  and  we  must  insist  no  less  upon  the 
virtues  of  self-restraint,  self-mastery,  regard  for  the  rights 
of  others ;  we  must  show  our  abhorrence  of  cruelty,  bru 
tality,  and  corruption,  in  public  and  in  private  life  alike. 
If  we  come  short  in  any  of  these  qualities  we  shall  meas 
urably  fail ;  and  if,  as  I  believe  we  surely  shall,  we  develop 
these  qualities  in  the  future  to  an  even  greater  degree 
than  in  the  past,  then  in  the  century  now  beginning  we 
shall  make  of  this  Republic  the  freest  and  most  orderly, 
the  most  just  and  most  mighty,  nation  which  has  ever 
come  forth  from  the  womb  of  time. 


XXVI 

AT  TOPEKA,  KANSAS,  MAY  i,   1903 

Colonel  Me  Cook,  gentlemen,  and  ladies  : 

It  needed  no  urging  to  get  me  to  accept  your  invitation. 
I  hailed  the  chance  of  speaking  a  few  words  to  you  on  this 
occasion,  because  it  seems  to  me  that  the  railroad  branch 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  exemplifies  in 
practice  just  exactly  what  I  like  to  preach — that  is,  the 
combination  of  efficiency  with  decent  living  and  high 
ideals. 

In  our  present  advanced  civilization  we  have  to  pay 
certain  penalties  for  what  we  have  obtained.  Among  the 
penalties  is  the  fact  that  in  very  many  occupations  there 
is  so  little  demand  upon  nerve,  hardihood,  and  endurance, 
that  there  is  a  tendency  to  unhealthy  softening  of  fibre 
and  relaxation  of  fibre ;  and  such  being  the  case  I  think 
it  is  a  fortunate  thing  for  our  people  as  a  whole  that 
there  should  be  certain  occupations,  prominent  among 
them  railroading,  in  which  the  man  has  to  show  the  very 
qualities  of  courage,  of  hardihood,  of  willingness  to  face 
danger,  the  cultivation  of  the  power  of  instantaneous  de 
cision  under  difficulties,  and  the  other  qualities  which  go 
to  make  up  the  virile  side  of  a  man's  character — the 
qualities,  Colonel  McCook,  which  you  and  those  like  you 
showed  when  as  boys,  as  young  men,  they  fought  to  a 
finish  the  great  Civil  War. 

So  much  for  the  manliness,  so  much  for  the  strength, 
so  much  for  the  courage  developed  by  your  profession, 

181 


1 82  ADDRESSES 

all  of  which  you  show,  and  have  to  show,  or  you  could 
not  succeed  in  doing  the  work  you  are  doing  as  your  life- 
work.  These  qualities  are  all-important,  but  they  are 
not  all-sufficient.  It  is  necessary  absolutely  to  have 
them.  No  nation  can  rise  to  greatness  without  them, 
but  by  them  alone  no  nation  will  ever  become  great. 
Reading  through  the  pages  of  history  you  come  upon 
nation  after  nation  in  which  there  has  been  a  high  aver 
age  of  individual  strength,  bravery,  and  hardihood,  and 
yet  in  which  there  has  been  nothing  approaching  to 
national  greatness,  because  those  qualities  were  not  sup 
plemented  by  others  just  as  necessary.  With  the  cour 
age,  with  the  hardihood,  with  the  strength,  must  come 
the  power  of  self-restraint,  the  power  of  self-mastery,  the 
capacity  to  work  for  and  with  others  as  well  as  for  one's 
self,  the  power  of  giving  to  others  the  love  which  each 
of  us  must  bear  for  his  neighbor,  if  we  are  to  make  our 
civilization  really  great.  And  these  are  the  qualities 
which  are  fostered  and  developed,  which  are  given  full 
play,  by  institutions  such  as  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association. 

The  other  day  in  a  little  Lutheran  church  at  Sioux 
Falls  I  listened  to  a  most  interesting  and  most  stimulat 
ing  sermon,  which  struck  me  particularly  because  of  the 
translation  of  a  word  which,  I  am  ashamed  to  say,  I  my 
self  had  always  before  mistranslated.  It  was  on  the  old 
text  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity.  The  sermon  was  de 
livered  in  German,  and  the  word  that  the  preacher  used 
for  charity  was  not  charity,  but  love ;  preaching  that  the 
greatest  of  all  the  forces  with  which  we  deal  for  better 
ment  is  love.  Looking  it  up  I  found,  of  course,  what  I 
ought  to  have  known,  but  did  not,  that  the  Greek  word 
which  we  have  translated  into  the  word  charity  should 
be  more  properly  translated  love.  That  is,  we  use  the 
word  charity  at  present  in  a  sense  which  does  not  make 
it  correspond  entirely  to  the  word  used  in  the  original 


TOPEKA  183 

Greek.  This  Lutheran  preacher  developed  in  a  very 
striking  but  very  happy  fashion  the  absolute  need  of  love 
in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word,  in  order  to  make  man 
kind  even  approximately  perfect. 

We  need  then  the  two  qualities— the  quality  of  which 
I  first  spoke  to  you,  which  has  many  shapes,  the  quality 
which  rests  upon  courage,  upon  bodily  and  mental 
strength,  upon  will,  upon  daring,  upon  resolution,  the 
quality  which  makes  a  man  work;  and  then  we  need  the 
quality  of  which  the  preacher  spoke  when  he  spoke  of 
love  as  being  the  great  factor,  the  ultimate  factor,  in 
bringing  about  the  kind  of  human  fellowship  which  will 
even  approximately  enable  us  to  come  up  towards  the 
standard  after  which  I  think  all  of  us  with  many  short 
comings  strive.  Work  and  love,  using  each  in  its  broad 
est  sense — work,  the  quality  which  makes  a  man  ashamed 
not  to  be  able  to  pull  his  own  weight,  not  to  be  able  to 
do  for  himself  as  well  as  for  others  without  being  beholden 
to  any  one  for  what  he  is  doing.  No  man  is  happy  if  he 
does  not  work.  Of  all  miserable  creatures  the  idler,  in 
whatever  rank  of  society,  is  in  the  long  run  the  most  mis 
erable.  If  a  man  does  not  work,  if  he  has  not  in  him  not 
merely  the  capacity  for  work  but  the  desire  for  work,  then 
nothing  can  be  done  with  him.  He  is  out  of  place  in  our 
community.  We  have  in  our  scheme  of  government  no 
room  for  the  man  who  does  not  wish  to  pay  his  way 
through  life  by  what  he  does  for  himself  and  for  the  com 
munity.  If  he  has  leisure  which  makes  it  unnecessary 
for  him  to  devote  his  time  to  earning  his  daily  bread, 
then  all  the  more  he  is  bound  to  work  just  as  hard  in 
some  way  that  will  make  the  community  the  better  off 
for  his  existence.  If  he  fails  in  that,  he  fails  to  justify 
his  existence.  Work,  the  capacity  for  work,  is  absolutely 
necessary  ;  and  no  man's  life  is  full,  no  man  can  be  said  to 
live  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  if  he  does  not  work. 
This  is  necessary ;  and  yet  it  is  not  enough.  If  a  man  is 


184  ADDRESSES 

utterly  selfish,  if  utterly  disregarded  of  the  rights  of 
others,  if  he  has  no  ideals,  if  he  works  simply  for  the  sake 
of  ministering  to  his  own  base  passions,  if  he  works 
simply  to  gratify  himself,  small  is  his  good  in  the  com 
munity.  I  think  even  then  he  is  probably  better  off  than 
if  he  is  an  idler,  but  he  is  of  no  real  use  unless  together 
with  the  quality  which  enables  him  to  work  he  has  the 
quality  which  enables  him  to  love  his  fellows,  to  work 
with  them  and  for  them  for  the  common  good  of  all. 

It  seems  to  me  that  these  Young  Men's  Christian  As 
sociations  play  a  part  of  the  greatest  consequence,  not 
merely  because  of  the  great  good  they  do  in  themselves, 
but  because  of  the  lesson  of  brotherhood  that  they  teach 
all  of  us.  All  of  us  here  are  knit  together  by  bonds 
which  we  cannot  sever.  For  weal  or  for  woe  our  fates 
are  inextricably  intermingled.  All  of  us  in  our  present 
civilization  are  dependent  upon  one  another  to  a  degree 
never  before  known  in  the  history  of  mankind,  and  in  the 
long  run  we  are  going  to  go  up  or  go  down  together. 
For  a  moment  some  man  may  rise  by  trampling  on  his 
fellows ;  for  a  moment,  and  much  more  commonly,  some 
men  may  think  they  will  rise  or  gratify  their  envy  and 
hatred  by  pulling  down  others.  But  any  such  movement 
upward  is  probably  illusory,  and  is  certainly  short-lived. 
Any  permanent  movement  upward  must  come  in  such  a 
shape  that  all  of  us  feel  the  lift  a  little,  and  if  there  is  a 
tendency  downward  all  of  us  will  feel  that  tendency  too. 
We  must,  if  we  are  to  raise  ourselves,  realize  that  each  of 
us  in  the  long  run  can  with  certainty  be  raised  only  if  the 
conditions  are  such  that  all  of  us  are  somewhat  raised. 
In  order  to  bring  about  these  conditions  the  first  essen 
tial  is  that  each  shall  have  a  genuine  spirit  of  regard  and 
friendship  for  the  others,  and  that  each  of  us  shall  try  to 
look  at  the  problems  of  life  somewhat  from  his  neighbor's 
standpoint — that  we  shall  have  the  capacity  to  understand 
one  another's  position,  one  another's  needs,  and  also  the 


TOPEKA  185 

desire  each  to  help  his  brother  as  well  as  to  help  himself. 
To  do  that  wisely,  wisely  to  strive  with  that  as  the  aim, 
is  not  very  easy.  Many  qualities  are  needed  in  order 
that  we  can  contribute  our  mite  toward  the  upward 
movement  of  the  world — among  them  the  quality  of  self- 
abnegation,  and  yet  combined  with  it  the  quality  which 
will  refuse  to  submit  to  injustice.  I  want  to  preach  the 
two  qualities  going  hand  in  hand.  I  do  not  want  a  man 
to  fail  to  try  to  strive  for  his  own  betterment,  I  do  not 
want  him  to  be  quick  to  yield  to  injustice;  I  want  him  to 
stand  for  his  rights ;  I  want  him  to  be  very  certain  that 
he  knows  what  his  rights  are,  and  that  he  does  not  make 
them  the  wrongs  of  some  one  else. 

I  have  a  great  deal  of  faith  in  the  average  American 
citizen.  I  think  he  is  a  pretty  good  fellow,  and  I  think 
he  can  generally  get  on  with  the  other  average  American 
citizen  if  he  will  only  know  him.  If  he  does  not  know 
him,  but  makes  him  a  monster  in  his  mind,  then  he  will 
not  get  on  with  him.  But  if  he  will  take  the  trouble  to 
know  him  and  realize  that  he  is  a  being  just  like  himself, 
with  the  same  instincts,  not  all  of  them  good,  the  same 
desire  to  overcome  those  that  are  not  good,  the  same  pur 
poses,  the  same  tendencies,  the  same  shortcomings,  the 
same  desires  for  good,  the  same  need  of  striving  against 
evil ;  if  he  will  realize  all  this,  then  if  you  can  get  the  two 
together  with  an  honest  desire  each  to  try  not  only  to 
help  himself  but  to  help  the  other,  most  of  our  problems 
will  be  solved.  And  I  can  imagine  no  way  more  likely 
to  hurry  forward  such  a  favorable  solution  than  to  en 
courage  the  building  up  of  just  such  institutions  as  this. 

Therefore,  I  congratulate  you  with  all  my  heart  upon 
this  meeting  to-day.  Therefore  I  esteem  myself  most 
fortunate  in  having  the  chance  of  addressing  you.  It  is 
a  very  good  thing  to  attend  to  the  material  side  of  life. 
We  must,  in  the  first  instance,  attend  to  our  material 
prosperity.  Unless  we  have  that  as  a  foundation  we 


1 86  ADDRESSES 

cannot  build  up  any  higher  kind  of  life.  But  we  shall 
lead  a  miserable  and  sordid  life  if  we  spend  our  whole 
time  in  doing  nothing  but  attend  to  our  material  needs. 
If  the  building  up  of  the  railroads,  of  the  farms,  of  the 
factories,  of  the  industrial  centres,  means  nothing  what 
ever  but  an  increase  in  the  instruments  of  production 
and  an  increase  in  the  fevered  haste  with  which  those 
instruments  are  used,  progress  amounts  to  but  a  little 
thing.  If,  however,  the  developing  of  our  material  pros 
perity  is  to  serve  as  a  foundation  upon  which  we  raise  a 
higher,  a  purer,  a  fuller,  a  better  life,  then  indeed  things 
are  well  with  the  Republic.  If  as  our  wealth  increases  the 
wisdom  of  our  use  of  the  wealth  increases  in  even  greater 
proportion,  then  the  wealth  has  abundantly  justified  its 
existence  many  times  over.  If  with  the  industry,  the 
skill,  the  hardihood,  of  those  whom  I  am  addressing  and 
their  fellows,  nothing  comes  beyond  save  a  selfish  desire 
each  to  grasp  for  himself  whatever  he  can  of  material  en 
joyment,  then  the  outlook  for  the  future  is  indeed  grave, 
then  the  advantages  of  living  in  the  twentieth  century 
surrounded  by  all  our  modern  improvements,  our  modern 
symbols  of  progress,  is  indeed  small.  But  if  we  mean  to 
make  of  each  fresh  development  in  the  way  of  material 
betterment  a  step  toward  a  fresh  development  in  moral  and 
spiritual  betterment,  then  we  are  to  be  congratulated. 

To  me  the  future  seems  full  of  hope  because,  although 
there  are  many  conflicting  tendencies,  and  although  some 
of  these  tendencies  of  our  present  life  are  for  evil,  yet,  on 
the  whole,  the  tendencies  for  good  are  in  the  ascendancy. 
And  I  greet  this  audience,  this  great  body  of  delegates, 
with  peculiar  pleasure  because  they  are  men  who  embody, 
and  embody  by  the  very  fact  of  their  presence  here,  the 
two  essential  sets  of  qualities  of  which  I  have  been  speak 
ing.  They  embody  the  capacity  for  self-help  with  the 
desire  mutually  to  help  one  the  other.  You  have  several 
qualities  I  like.  You  have  sound  bodies.  Your  profes- 


TOPEKA  187 

sion  is  not  one  that  can  be  carried  on,  at  least  in  some  of 
its  branches,  without  the  sound  body.  You  have  sound 
minds,  and  that  is  better  than  sound  bodies,  and  finally, 
the  fact  that  you  are  here,  the  fact  that  you  have 
done  what  you  have  done,  shows  that  you  have  that 
which  counts  for  more  than  body,  for  more  than  mind- 
character. 

I  congratulate  you  upon  what  you  are  doing  for  your 
selves,  and  I  congratulate  you  even  more  upon  what  you 
are  doing  for  all  men  who  hope  to  see  the  day  brought 
nearer  when  the  people  of  all  nations  shall  realize — not 
merely  talk  of,  but  realize — what  the  essence  of  brother 
hood  is.  I  congratulate  you,  as  I  say,  not  only  because 
you  are  bettering  yourselves,  but  because  to  you,  for 
your  good  fortune,  it  is  given  to  better  others,  to  teach, 
in  the  way  in  which  teaching  is  most  effective,  not  merely 
by  precept  but  by  action.  The  railroad  men  of  this 
country  are  a  body  entitled  to  the  well-wishes  of  their 
fellow-men  in  any  event,  but  peculiarly  is  this  true  of  the 
railroad  men  of  the  country  who  join  in  such  work  as  that 
of  these  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  because  they 
are  showing  by  their  actions — and  oh,  how  much  louder 
actions  speak  than  words ! — that  it  is  not  only  possible, 
but  very,  very  possible  and  easy  to  combine  the  man 
liness  which  makes  a  man  able  to  do  his  own  share  of  the 
world's  work,  with  that  fine  and  lofty  love  of  one's  fellow- 
men,  which  makes  you  able  to  come  together  with  your 
fellows  and  work  hand  in  hand  with  them  for  the  common 
good  of  mankind  in  general. 


XXVII 

AT   LELAND    STANFORD,    JUNIOR,    UNIVERSITY, 
PALO  ALTO,  CALIFORNIA,  MAY  12,   1903 

President  Jordan,  and  you,  my  fellow-citizens,  and  espe 
cially  you,  "my  fellow  college  men  and  women  : 

I  thank  you  for  your  greeting,  and  I  know  you  will  not 
grudge  my  saying,  first  of  all,  a  special  word  of  thanks  to 
the  men  of  the  Grand  Army.  It  is  a  fine  thing  to  have 
before  a  body  of  students  men  who  by  their  practice 
have  rendered  it  unnecessary  that  they  should  preach; 
for  what  we  have  to  teach  by  precept,  you,  the  men  of 
'61  to  '65,  have  taught  by  deed,  by  action.  I  am  proud 
as  an  American  college  man  myself  to  have  seen  the  tab 
let  outside  within  the  court  which  shows  that  this  young 
university  sent  eighty-five  of  her  sons  to  war  when  the 
country  called  for  them.  I  come  from  a  college  which 
boasts  as  its  proudest  building  that  which  stands  to  the 
memory  of  Harvard's  sons  who  responded  to  the  call  of 
Lincoln  when  the  hour  of  the  nation's  danger  was  at 
hand.  It  will  be  a  bad  day  for  this  country  and  a  worse 
day  for  all  educative  institutions  in  this  country,  if  ever 
such  a  call  is  made  and  the  men  of  college  training  do 
not  feel  it  peculiarly  incumbent  upon  them  to  respond. 

President  Jordan  has  been  kind  enough  to  allude  to  me 
as  an  old  friend.  Mr.  Jordan  is  too  modest  to  say  that 
he  has  long  been  not  only  a  friend,  but  a  man  to  whom 
I  have  turned  for  advice  and  help  before  and  since  I 
became  President.  I  am  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  ac- 

188 


LELAND  STANFORD,  JR.,  UNIVERSITY    189 

knowledging  my  obligations  to  him,  and  I  am  also  glad 
that  when  I  ask  you  to  strive  toward  productive  scholar 
ship,  toward  productive  citizenship,  I  can  use  the  President 
of  the  University  as  an  example.  Of  course  in  any  of  our 
American  institutions  of  learning,  even  more  important 
than  the  production  of  scholarship  is  the  production  of 
citizenship.  That  is  the  most  important  thing  that  any 
institution  of  learning  can  produce.  There  are  a  great 
number  of  students  who  cannot  and  should  not  try, 
in  after-life,  to  lead  a  career  of  scholarship,  but  no  uni 
versity  can  take  high  rank  if  it  does  not  aim  at  the 
production  of,  and  succeed  in  producing,  a  certain  num 
ber  of  deep  and  thorough  scholars — not  scholars  whose 
scholarship  is  of  the  barren  kind,  but  men  of  productive 
scholarship,  men  who  do  good  work,  I  trust  great  work, 
in  the  fields  of  literature,  of  art,  of  science,  in  all  their 
manifold  activities.  Here  in  California  this  nation,  com 
posite  in  its  race  stocks,  speaking  an  old-world  tongue, 
and  with  an  inherited  old-world  culture,  has  acquired  an 
absolutely  new  domain.  I  do  not  mean  new  only  in  the 
sense  of  additional  territory  like  that  already  possessed,  I 
mean  new  in  the  sense  of  new  surroundings, — to  use  the 
scientific  phrase,  of  a  new  environment.  Being  new,  I 
think  we  have  a  right  to  look  for  a  substantial  achieve 
ment  on  the  part  of  your  people  along  new  lines.  I  do 
not  mean  the  self-conscious  striving  after  newness,  which 
is  only  too  apt  to  breed  eccentricity,  but  I  mean  that 
those  among  you  whose  bent  is  toward  scholarship  as  a 
career  should  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  such  scholarship 
should  be  productive,  and  should  therefore  aim  at  giving 
to  the  world  some  addition  to  the  world's  stock  of  what 
is  useful  or  beautiful ;  and  if  you  work  simply  and  natu 
rally,  taking  advantage  of  your  surroundings  as  you  find 
them,  then  in  my  belief  a  new  mark  will  be  made  in  the 
history  of  intellectual  achievement  by  our  race.  You  of 
this  institution  are  blessed  in  its  extraordinary  physical 


ADDRESSES 


beauty  and  appropriateness  of  architecture  and  sur 
roundings,  with  a  suggestion  of  what  I  might  call  Ameri 
canized  Greek.  Such  is  your  institution,  situated  on 
the  shores  of  this  great  ocean,  built  by  a  race  which  has 
come  steadily  westward,  and  which  has  come  to  where 
the  Occident  looks  west  to  the  Orient,  a  race  whose 
members  here,  fresh,  vigorous,  have  the  boundless  possi 
bilities  of  the  future  brought  to  their  very  doors  in  a 
sense  that  cannot  be  possible  for  the  members  of  the 
race  situated  farther  east.  Surely  there  will  be  some 
great  outcome  in  the  way  not  merely  of  physical  but  of 
moral  and  intellectual  work  worth  doing.  I  do  not  want 
you  to  turn  out  prigs,  I  do  not  want  you  to  turn  out  the 
self-conscious.  I  believe  with  all  my  heart  in  play.  I 
want  you  to  play  hard  without  encroaching  on  your 
work.  I  do  nevertheless  think  you  ought  to  have  at  least 
the  consciousness  of  the  serious  side  of  what  all  this 
means,  and  of  the  necessity  of  effort,  thrust  upon  you, 
so  that  you  may  justify  by  your  deeds  in  the  future  your 
training  and  the  extraordinary  advantages  under  which 
that  training  has  been  obtained. 

America,  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  is,  of 
course,  in  a  peculiar  sense  typical  of  the  present  age. 
We  represent  the  fullest  development  of  the  democratic 
spirit  acting  on  the  extraordinary  and  highly  complex 
industrial  growth  of  the  last  half  century.  It  behooves 
us  to  justify  by  our  acts  the  claims  made  for  that  politi 
cal  and  economic  progress.  We  will  never  justify  the  ex 
istence  of  the  Republic  by  merely  talking  each  Fourth  of 
July  about  what  the  Republic  has  done.  If  our  homage 
is  lip  loyalty  merely,  the  great  deeds  of  those  who  went 
before  us,  the  great  deeds  of  the  times  of  Washington 
and  of  the  times  of  Lincoln,  the  great  deeds  of  the  men 
who  won  the  Revolution  and  founded  the  Nation,  and  the 
men  who  preserved  it,  who  made  it  a  Union  and  a  free 
Republic,  will  simply  arise  to  shame  us.  We  can  honor 


LELAND  STANFORD,  JR.,  UNIVERSITY    191 

our  fathers  and  our  fathers'  fathers  only  by  ourselves 
striving  to  rise  level  to  their  standard.  There  are  plenty 
of  tendencies  for  evil  in  what  we  see  round  about  us. 
Thank  Heaven,  there  are  an  even  greater  number  of 
tendencies  for  good;  and  one  of  the  things,  Mr.  Jordan, 
which  it  seems  to  me  give  this  nation  cause  for  hope  is 
the  national  standard  of  ambition  which  makes  it  possible 
to  recognize  in  admiration  and  regard  such  work  as  the 
founding  of  a  university  of  this  character.  It  speaks  well 
for  our  nation  that  men  and  women  should  desire  during 
their  lives  to  devote  the  fortunes  which  they  were  able  to 
gain  or  to  inherit  because  of  our  system  of  government, 
because  of  our  social  system,  to  objects  so  entirely 
worthy  and  so  entirely  admirable  as  the  foundation  of  a 
great  seat  of  learning  such  as  this.  All  that  we  outsiders 
can  do  is  to  pay  our  tribute  of  respect  to  the  dead  and 
to  the  living  and  at  least  to  make  it  evident  that  we 
appreciate  to  the  full  what  has  been  done. 

I  have  spoken  of  scholarship ;  I  want  to  go  back  to  the 
question  of  citizenship,  a  question  of  not  merely  schol 
ars  among  you,  not  merely  those  who  are  hereafter  to 
lead  lives  devoted  to  science,  to  art,  to  productivity  in 
literature.  And  when  you  come  into  science,  art,  and 
literature  remember  that  one  first-class  bit  of  work  is 
better  than  one  thousand  pretty  good  bits  of  work;  that 
as  the  years  roll  on  the  man  or  the  woman  who  has 
been  able  to  make  a  masterpiece  with  the  pen,  the  brush, 
the  pencil,  in  any  way,  has  rendered  a  service  to  the 
country  such  as  not  all  his  or  her  compeers  who  merely 
do  fairly  good  second-rate  work  can  ever  accomplish. 
Only  a  limited  number  of  us  can  ever  become  scholars  or 
work  successfully  along  the  lines  I  have  spoken  of,  but 
we  can  all  be  good  citizens.  We  can  all  lead  a  life  of 
action,  a  life  of  endeavor,  a  life  that  is  to  be  judged 
primarily  by  the  effort,  somewhat  by  the  result,  along 
the  lines  of  helping  the  growth  of  what  is  right  and 


192  ADDRESSES 

decent  and  generous  and  lofty  in  our  several  communities 
in  the  State,  in  the  Nation. 

You,  men  and  women,  you  who  have  had  the  ad 
vantages  of  a  college  training  are  not  to  be  excused  if  you 
fail  to  do,  not  as  well  as,  but  more  than  the  average  man 
outside  who  has  not  had  your  advantages.  Every  now 
and  then  I  meet  (at  least  I  meet  him  in  the  East  and 
I  dare  say  he  is  to  be  found  here)  the  man  who  hav 
ing  gone  through  college  feels  that  somehow  that  con 
fers  upon  him  a  special  distinction  which  relieves  him 
from  the  necessity  of  showing  himself  as  good  as  his 
fellows.  I  see  you  recognize  the  type.  That  man  is 
not  only  a  curse  to  the  community,  and  incidentally 
to  himself,  but  he  is  a  curse  to  the  cause  of  academic 
education,  the  college  and  university  training,  because 
by  his  insistence  he  serves  as  an  excuse  for  those  who 
like  to  denounce  such  education.  Your  education,  your 
training,  will  not  confer  on  you  one  privilege  in  the  way 
of  excusing  you  from  effort  or  from  work.  All  it  can 
do,  and  what  it  should  do,  is  to  make  you  a  little  better 
fitted  for  such  effort,  for  such  work ;  and  I  do  not  care 
whether  that  is  in  business,  politics,  in  no  matter  what 
branch  of  endeavor,  all  it  can  do  is  by  the  training  you 
have  received,  by  the  advantages  you  have  received,  to  fit 
you  to  do  a  little  better  than  the  average  man  that  you 
meet.  It  is  incumbent  upon  you  to  show  that  the  train 
ing  has  had  that  effect.  It  ought  to  enable  you  to  do  a 
little  better  for  yourselves,  and  if  you  have  in  you  souls 
capable  of  a  thrill  of  generous  emotion,  souls  capable  of 
understanding  what  you  owe  to  your  training,  to  your 
alma  mater,  to  the  past  and  the  present  that  have  given 
you  all  that  you  have — if  you  have  such  souls  it  ought  to 
make  you  doubly  bent  upon  disinterested  work  for  the 
State  and  the  Nation. 

Such  work  can  be  done  along  many  different  lines. 
I  want  to-day  here  in  California  to  maj.^  a  special  ap- 


LELAND  STANFORD,  JR.,  UNIVERSITY    193 

peal  to  all  of  you  and  to  California  as  a  whole,  for  work 
along  a  certain  line — the  line  of  preserving  your  great 
natural  advantages  alike  from  the  standpoint  of  use  and 
from  the  standpoint  of  beauty.  If  the  students  of  this 
institution  have  not  by  the  mere  fact  of  their  surround 
ings  learned  to  appreciate  beauty,  then  the  fault  is  in 
you  and  not  in  the  surroundings.  Here  in  California  you 
have  some  of  the  great  wonders  of  the  world.  You  have 
a  singularly  beautiful  landscape,  singularly  beautiful  and 
singularly  majestic  scenery,  and  it  should  certainly  be 
your  aim  to  try  to  preserve  for  those  who  are  to  come 
after  you  that  beauty,  to  try  to  keep  unmarred  that 
majesty.  Closely  entwined  with  keeping  unmarred  the 
beauty  of  your  scenery,  of  your  great  natural  attractions, 
is  the  question  of  making  use  of,  not  for  the  moment 
merely,  but  for  future  time,  your  great  natural  pro 
ducts.  Yesterday  I  saw  for  the  first  time  a  grove  of  your 
trees,  a  grove  which  it  has  taken  the  ages  several  thou 
sands  of  years  to  build  up ;  and  I  feel  most  emphatically 
that  we  should  not  turn  into  shingles  a  tree  which  was 
old  when  the  first  Egyptian  conqueror  penetrated  to  the 
valley  of  the  Euphrates,  which  it  has  taken  so  many 
thousands  of  years  to  build  up,  and  which  can  be  put  to 
better  use.  That  you  may  say  is  not  looking  at  the  mat 
ter  from  the  practical  standpoint.  There  is  nothing  more 
practical  in  the  end  than  the  preservation  of  beauty,  than 
the  preservation  of  anything  that  appeals  to  the  higher 
emotions  in  mankind.  But  furthermore  I  appeal  to  you 
from  the  standpoint  of  use.  A  few  big  trees,  of  unusual 
size  and  beauty,  should  be  preserved  for  their  own  sake ; 
but  the  forests  as  a  whole  should  be  used  for  business 
purposes,  only  they  should  be  used  in  a  way  that  will 
preserve  them  as  permanent  sources  of  national  wealth. 
In  many  parts  of  California  the  whole  future  welfare  of 
the  State  depends  upon  the  way  in  which  you  are  able 
to  use  your  waixr  supply ;  and  the  preservation  of  the 


194  ADDRESSES 

forests  and  the  preservation  of  the  use  of  the  water  are 
inseparably  connected.  I  believe  we  are  past  the  stage 
of  national  existence  when  we  could  look  on  complacently 
at  the  individual  who  skinned  the  land  and  was  content 
for  the  sake  of  three  years'  profit  for  himself  to  leave  a 
desert  for  the  children  of  those  who  were  to  inherit  the 
soil.  I  think  we  have  passed  that  stage.  We  should 
handle,  and  I  think  we  now  do  handle,  all  problems  such 
as  those  of  forestry  and  of  the  preservation  and  use  of 
our  waters  from  the  standpoint  of  the  permanent  interests 
of  the  home  maker  in  any  region,  the  man  who  comes 
in  not  to  take  what  he  can  out  of  the  soil  and  leave, 
having  exploited  the  country,  but  who  comes  to  dwell 
therein,  to  bring  up  his  children,  and  to  leave  them  a 
heritage  in  the  country  not  merely  unimpaired,  but  if 
possible  even  improved.  That  is  the  sensible  view  of 
civic  obligation,  and  the  policy  of  the  State  and  of  the 
Nation  should  be  shaped  in  that  direction.  It  should  be 
shaped  in  the  interest  of  the  home  maker,  the  actual 
resident,  the  man  who  is  not  only  to  be  benefited  him 
self,  but  whose  children  and  children's  children  are  to 
be  benefited  by  what  he  has  done.  California  has  for 
years,  I  am  happy  to  say,  taken  a  more  sensible,  a  more 
intelligent  interest  in  forest  preservation  than  any  other 
State.  It  early  appointed  a  forest  commission ;  later  on 
some  of  the  functions  of  that  commission  were  replaced 
by  the  Sierra  Club,  a  club  which  has  done  much  on  the 
Pacific  coast  to  perpetuate  the  spirit  of  the  explorer  and 
the  pioneer.  Then,  I  am  happy  to  say,  a  great  many 
business  interests  showed  an  intelligent  and  far-sighted 
spirit  which  is  of  happy  augury,  for  the  Redwood  Manu 
facturers  of  San  Francisco  were  first  among  lumbermen's 
associations  to  give  assistance  to  the  cause  of  practical 
forestry.  The  study  of  the  redwood,  which  the  action 
of  this  association  made  possible,  was  the  pioneer  study 
in  the  co-operative  work  which  is  now  being  carried  out 


LELAND  STANFORD,   JR.,  UNIVERSITY    195 

between  lumbermen  all  over  the  United  States  and  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Forestry.  All  of  this  kind  of  work  is 
peculiarly  the  kind  of  work  in  which  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  not  merely  hearty  co-operation  but  leader 
ship  from  college  men  trained  in  the  universities  of  this 
Pacific  coast  State.  For  the  forests  of  the  State  stand 
alone  in  the  world.  There  are  none  others  like  them 
anywhere.  There  are  no  other  trees  anywhere  like  the 
giant  Sequoias;  nowhere  else  is  there  a  more  beautiful 
forest  than  that  which  clothes  the  western  slope  of  the 
Sierra.  Very  early  your  forests  attracted  lumbermen 
from  other  States,  and  by  the  course  of  timber-land  in 
vestments  some  of  the  best  of  the  big  trees  were  threat 
ened  with  destruction.  Destruction  came  upon  some  of 
them,  but  the  women  of  California  rose  to  the  emergency 
through  the  California  Club,  and  later  the  Sempervirens 
Club  took  vigorous  action.  But  the  Calaveras  grove  is 
not  yet  safe,  and  there  should  be  no  rest  until  that  safety 
is  secured,  by  the  action  of  private  individuals,  by  the 
action  of  the  State,  by  the  action  of  the  Nation.  The 
interest  of  California  in  forest  protection  was  shown  even 
more  effectively  by  the  purchase  of  the  Big  Basin  Red 
wood  Park,  a  superb  forest  property,  the  possession  of 
which  should  be  a  source  of  just  pride  to  all  people 
jealous  and  proud  of  California's  good  name. 

I  appeal  to  you,  as  I  say,  to  protect  these  mighty 
trees,  these  wonderful  monuments  of  beauty.  I  appeal 
to  you  to  protect  them  for  the  sake  of  their  beauty,  but 
I  also  make  the  appeal  just  as  strongly  on  economic 
grounds,  and  I  am  well  aware  that  in  dealing  with  great 
questions  a  far-sighted  economic  policy  must  be  that  to 
which  in  the  long  run  one  appeals.  The  interests  of  Cali 
fornia  in  forests  depend  directly,  of  course,  upon  the 
handling  of  her  wood  and  water  supplies  and  the  supply 
of  material  from  the  lumber  woods  and  the  production 
of  agricultural  products  on  irrigated  farms.  The  great 


196  ADDRESSES 

valleys  which  stretch  through  the  State  between  the 
Sierra  Nevada  and  Coast  Ranges  must  owe  their  fu 
ture  development,  as  they  owe  their  present  prosperity, 
to  irrigation.  Whatever  tends  to  destroy  the  water 
supply  of  the  Sacramento,  the  San  Gabriel,  and  other 
valleys  strikes  vitally  at  the  welfare  of  California.  So 
that  the  welfare  of  California  depends  in  no  small  measure 
upon  the  preservation  of  water  for  the  purposes  of  irriga 
tion  in  those  beautiful  and  fertile  valleys  which  cannot 
grow  crops  by  rainfall  alone.  The  forest  cover  upon  the 
drainage  basins  of  streams  used  for  irrigation  purposes 
is  of  prime  importance  to  the  interests  of  the  entire  State. 
Now  keep  in  mind  that  the  whole  object  of  forest  protec 
tion  is,  as  I  have  said  again  and  again,  the  making  and 
maintaining  of  prosperous  homes.  I  am  not  advocating 
forest  protection  from  the  aesthetic  standpoint  only.  I 
do  advocate  the  keeping  of  big  trees,  the  great  monarchs 
of  the  woods,  for  the  sake  of  their  beauty,  but  I  advocate 
the  preservation  of  the  forests  because  I  feel  it  essential 
to  the  interests  of  the  actual  settlers.  I  am  asking  that 
the  forests  be  kept  for  the  sake  of  the  successors  of  the 
pioneers,  for  the  sake  of  the  settlers  who  dwell  on  the 
land  and  by  doing  so  extend  the  borders  of  our  civiliza 
tion.  I  ask  it  for  the  sake  of  the  man  who  makes  his 
farm  in  the  woods,  or  lower  down  along  the  sides  of  the 
streams  which  have  their  rise  in  the  mountains.  Every 
phase  of  the  land  policy  of  the  United  States  is,  as  it  by 
right  ought  to  be,  directed  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  home 
maker.  The  one  sure  test  of  all  public-land  legislation 
should  be :  Does  it  help  to  make  and  to  keep  prosperous 
homes?  If  it  does,  the  legislation  is  good.  If  it  does 
not,  the  legislation  is  bad.  Any  legislation  which  has  a 
tendency  to  give  land  in  large  tracts  to  people  who  will 
lease  it  out  to  tenants  is  undesirable.  We  do  not  want 
ever  to  let  our  land  policy  be  shaped  so  as  to  create  a  big 
class  of  proprietors  who  rent  to  others.  We  want  to 


LELAND  STANFORD,  JR.,  UNIVERSITY    197 

make  the  smaller  men  who  under  such  conditions  would 
rent,  actual  proprietors.  We  want  to  shape  our  policy 
so  that  these  men  themselves  shall  be  the  land  owners, 
the  makers  of  homes,  the  keepers  of  homes. 

Certain  of  our  land  laws,  however  beneficent  their  pur 
poses,  have  been  twisted  into  an  improper  use,  so  that 
there  have  grown  up  abuses  under  them  by  which  they 
tend  to  create  a  class  of  men  who  under  one  color  and 
another  obtain  large  tracts  of  soil  for  speculative  pur 
poses,  but  to  rent  out  to  others;  and  there  should  be 
now  a  thorough  scrutiny  of  our  land  laws  with  the  object 
of  so  amending  them  as  to  do  away  with  the  possibility 
of  such  abuses.  If  it  were  not  for  the  national  irrigation 
act  we  would  be  about  past  the  time  when  Uncle  Sam 
could  give  every  man  a  farm.  (You  know  that  has  been 
a  saying  for  a  long  time  in  our  nation,  but  if  it  were  not 
for  the  passage  by  the  Federal  Congress  of  the  national 
irrigation  act  we  would  be  well  toward  the  end  of  the 
time  when  that  saying  would  any  longer  be  true.)  Com 
paratively  little  of  our  land  is  left  which  is  adapted  to 
farming  without  irrigation.  The  home  maker  on  the 
public  land  must  hereafter  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
have  water  for  irrigation,  or  the  making  of  his  home  will 
fail.  Let  us  keep  that  fact  before  our  minds.  Do  not 
misunderstand  me  when  I  have  spoken  of  the  defects  of 
our  land  laws.  Our  land  laws  have  served  a  noble  pur 
pose  in  the  past  and  have  become  the  models  for  other 
governments.  The  homestead  law  has  been  a  notable 
instrument  for  good.  To  establish  a  family  permanently 
upon  a  quarter  section  of  land,  or  of  course  upon  a  less 
quantity  if  it  is  irrigated  land,  is  the  best  use  to  which  it 
can  be  put.  The  first  need  of  any  nation  is  intelligent 
and  honest  citizens.  Such  can  come  only  from  honest 
and  intelligent  homes,  and  to  get  the  good  citizenship  we 
must  get  the  good  homes.  It  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  the  remainder  of  our  public  land  should  be  reserved 


198  ADDRESSES 

for  the  home  maker,  and  it  is  necessary,  in  my  judgment, 
that  there  should  be  a  revision  of  the  land  laws  and  a 
cutting  out  of  such  provisions  from  them  as  in  actual 
practice  under  present  conditions  tend  to  make  possible 
the  acquisition  of  large  tracts  for  speculative  purposes  or 
for  the  purpose  of  leasing  to  others. 

Citizenship  is  the  prime  test  in  the  welfare  of  the 
nation,  but  we  need  good  laws,  and  above  all  we  need 
good  land  laws  throughout  the  West.  We  want  to  see 
the  free  farmer  own  his  home.  The  best  of  the  public 
lands  are  already  in  private  hands,  and  yet  the  rate 
of  their  disposal  is  steadily  increasing.  More  than  six 
million  acres  were  patented  during  the  first  three  months 
of  the  present  year.  It  is  time  for  us  to  see  that  our 
remaining  public  lands  are  saved  for  the  home  maker 
to  the  utmost  limit  of  his  possible  use.  I  say  this  to  you 
of  this  university  because  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that 
the  best  trained,  the  best  educated  men  on  the  Pacific 
slope,  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  great  plains  States  will 
take  the  lead  in  the  preservation  and  right  use  of  the 
forests,  in  securing  the  right  use  of  the  waters,  and  in 
seeing  to  it  that  our  land  policy  is  not  twisted  from  its 
original  purpose,  but  is  perpetuated  by  amendment,  by 
change  when  such  change  is  necessary  in  the  line  of  that 
purpose,  the  purpose  being  to  turn  the  public  domain 
into  farms  each  to  be  the  property  of  the  man  who  actually 
tills  it  and  makes  his  home  on  it. 

Infinite  are  the  possibilities  for  usefulness  that  lie  be 
fore  such  a  body  as  that  I  am  addressing.  Work?  Of 
course  you  will  have  to  work.  I  should  be  sorry  for  you 
if  you  did  not  have  to  work.  Of  course  you  will  have  to 
work,  and  I  envy  you  the  fact  that  before  you,  before 
the  graduates  of  this  university,  lies  the  chance  of  lives 
to  be  spent  in  hard  labor  for  great  and  glorious  and  useful 
causes,  hard  labor  for  the  uplifting  of  your  States,  of  the 
Union,  of  all  mankind. 


XXVIII 

AT   THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA,    BERKE 
LEY,  CALIFORNIA,  MAY  14,   1903 

President  Wheeler,  fellow -members  of  the  University  : 

Last  night,  in  speaking  to  one  of  my  new  friends  in 
California,  he  told  me  that  he  thought  enough  had  been 
said  to  me  about  the  fruits  and  flowers;  that  enough  had 
been  said  to  me  about  California  being  an  Eden,  and 
that  he  wished  I  would  pay  some  attention  to  Adam  as 
well.  Much  though  I  have  been  interested  in  the  won 
derful  physical  beauty  of  this  wonderful  State,  I  have 
been  infinitely  more  interested  in  its  citizenship,  and 
perhaps  most  in  its  citizenship,  in  the  making. 

When  I  come  to  the  University  of  California  and  am 
greeted  by  its  President  I  am  greeted  by  an  old  and 
valued  friend,  a  friend  whom  I  have  not  merely  known 
socially  but  upon  whom,  while  I  was  Governor  of  New 
York,  I  leaned  often  for  advice  and  assistance  in  the 
problems  with  which  I  had  to  deal.  When  he  accepted 
your  offer  I  grudged  him  to  you.  And  it  was  not 
until  I  came  here,  not  until  I  have  seen  you,  that  I  have 
been  fully  reconciled  to  the  loss.  But  now  I  am,  for  I 
can  conceive  of  no  happier  life  for  any  man  to  lead  to 
whom  life  means  what  it  should  mean,  than  the  life  of  the 
President  of  this  great  university. 

This  same  friend  last  night  suggested  to  me  a  thought 
that  I  intend  to  work  out  in  speaking  to  you  to-day. 
We  were  talking  over  the  University  of  California,  and 

199 


200  ADDRESSES 

from  that  we  spoke  of  the  general  educational  system  of 
our  country.  Facts  tend  to  become  commonplace,  and 
we  tend  to  lose  sight  of  their  importance  when  once  they 
are  ingrained  into  the  life  of  the  nation.  Although  we 
talk  a  good  deal  about  what  the  widespread  education  of 
this  country  means,  I  question  if  many  of  us  deeply  con 
sider  its  meaning.  From  the  lowest  grade  of  the  public 
school  to  the  highest  form  of  university  training,  educa 
tion  in  this  country  is  at  the  disposal  of  every  man,  every 
woman,  who  chooses  to  work  for  and  obtain  it.  The 
State  has  done  very  much;  witness  this  university. 
Private  benefaction  has  done  much,  very  much ;  witness 
also  this  university.  And  each  one  of  us  who  has  ob 
tained  an  education  has  obtained  something  for  which  he 
or  she  has  not  personally  paid.  No  matter  what  the 
school,  what  the  university,  every  American  who  has  a 
school  training,  a  university  training,  has  obtained  some 
thing  given  to  him  outright  by  the  State,  or  given  to  him 
by  those  dead  or  those  living  who  were  able  to  make  pro 
vision  for  that  training  because  of  the  protection  of  the 
State,  because  of  existence  within  its  borders.  Each  one 
of  us  then  who  has  an  education,  school  or  college,  has 
obtained  something  from  the  community  at  large  for 
which  he  or  she  has  not  paid,  and  no  self-respecting  man 
or  woman  is  content  to  rest  permanently  under  such  an 
obligation.  Where  the  State  has  bestowed  education  the 
man  who  accepts  it  must  be  content  to  accept  it  merely 
as  a  charity  unless  he  returns  it  to  the  State  in  full,  in 
the  shape  of  good  citizenship.  I  do  not  ask  of  you, 
men  and  women  here  to-day,  good  citizenship  as  a  favor 
to  the  State.  I  demand  it  of  you  as  a  right,  and  hold 
\  you  recreant  to  your  duty  if  you  fail  to  give  it. 

Here  you  are  in  this  university,  in  this  State  with 
its  wonderful  climate,  which  is  permitting  people  of  a 
Northern  stock. for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  that 
Northern  stock  to  gain  education  in  physical  surround- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  201 

ings,  somewhat  akin  to  those  which  surrounded  the  early 
Greeks,  Here  you  have  all  those  advantages,  and  you 
are  not  to  be  excused  if  you  do  not  show  in  tangible 
fashion  your  appreciation  of  them  and  your  £ower  to 
give  practical  effect  to  that  appreciation.  From  all  our 
citizens  we  have  a  right  to  expect  good  citizenship ;  but 
most  of  all  from  those  who  have  received  most ;  most  of 
all  from  those  who  have  had  the  training  of  body,  of 
mind,  of  soul,  which  comes  from  association  in  and  with 
a  great  university.  {  From  those  to  whom  much  has  been 
given  we  have  Biblical  authority  to  expect  and  demand 
much  in  return;  and  the  most  that  can  be  given  to 
any  man  is  education.  I  expect  and  demand  in  the 
name  of  the  nation  much  more  from  you  who  have  had 
training  of  the  mind  than  from  those  of  mere  wealth. 
To  the  man  of  means  much  has  been  given,  too,  and 
much  will  be  expected  from  him,  and  ought  to  be,  but 
not  as  much  as  from  you,  because  your  possession  is 
more  valuable  than  his.  If  you  envy  him  I  think  poorly 
of  you.  Envy  is  merely  the  meanest  form  of  admiration, 
and  a  man  who  envies  another  admits  thereby  his  own 
inferiority.  We  have  a  right  to  expect  from  the  college- 
bred  man,  the  college-bred  woman,  a  proper  sense  of  pro 
portion,  a  proper  sense  of  perspective,  which  will  enable 
him  or  her  to  see  things  in  their  right  relation  one  to  an 
other,  and  when  thus  seen  while  wealth  will  have  a  proper 
place,  a  just  place,  as  an  instrument  for  achieving  happi 
ness  and  power,  for  conferring  happiness  and  power,  it  , 
will  not  stand  as  high  as  much  else  in  our  national  life,  \ 
I  ask  you  to  take  that  not  as  a  conventional  statement 
from  the  university  platform,  but  to  test  it  by  thinking 
of  the  men  whom  you  admire  in  our  past  history  and 
seeing  what  are  the  qualities  which  have  rnjjie  you  admire 
them,  what  are  the  services  they  have  rendered.  For, 
as  President  Wheeler  said  to-day,  it  is  true  now  as  it  ever 
has  been  true  that  the  greatest  good-fortune,  the  greatest 


I 


202  ADDRESSES 

honor,  that  can  befall  any  man  is  that  he  shall  serve, 
that  he  shall  serve  the  nation,  serve  his  people,  serve 
mankind;  and  looking  back  in  history  the  names  that 
come  up  before  us,  the  names  to  which  we  turn,  the 
names  of  the  men  of  our  own  people  which  stand  as 
shining  honor  marks  in  our  annals,  the  names  of  those 
men  typifying  qualities  which  rightly  we  should  hold  in 
reverence,  are  the  names  of  the  statesmen,  of  the  sol 
diers,  of  the  poets,  and  after  them,  not  abreast  of  them, 
the  names  of  the  architects  of  our  material  prosperity 

also.  ,jui»  u-    _--^ — 

Of  recent  years  I  have  been  thrown  in  contact  with  a 
number  of  college  graduates  doing  good  service  to  the 
country,  and  as  I  wish  to  make  it  perfectly  evident  what 
I  mean  by  the  kind  of  service  which  I  should  hope  to 
have  from  you  and  which  it  seems  to  me  worth  while  to 
render,  I  want  to  say  just  a  word  about  two  college 
graduates  who  have  during  the  last  five  years  rendered 
and  are  now  rendering  such  services :  Governor  Taft  in 
the  Philippines,  and  Brigadier-General  Leonard  Wood, 
lately  Governor  of  Cuba.  When  we  acquired  the  Philip 
pines  and  took  possession  for  the  time  being  of  Cuba  to 
train  its  people  in  citizenship,  we  assumed  heavy  respon 
sibilities;  so  heavy  that  some  very  excellent  persons 
thought  we  ought  to  shirk  them.  I  hold  that  a  great 
and  masterful  people  forfeits  its  title  to  greatness  if  it 
shirks  any  work  because  that  work  is  difficult  and  re 
sponsible.  The  difficulty  and  responsibility  impose  upon 
us  the  high  duty  of  doing  the  work  well,  but  they  in  no 
way  excuse  us  for  refusing  to  do  it.  We  had  to  do  the 
work  and  the  question  came  of  the  choice  of  instru 
ments  in  doing  it.  The  most  important  and  most  diffi 
cult  task  after  the  establishment  of  order  by  the  army 
in  the  Philippines  was  the  establishment  of  civil  gov 
ernment  therein;  and  second  only  in  importance  to 
that  came  the  administration  of  Cuba,  during  the 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  203 

three  years  and  over  that  elapsed  before  we  were  able 
to  turn  its  government  over  to  its  own  people  and  start 
it  as  a  free  republic.  When  tasks  are  all-important 
the  most  important  factor  in  doing  them  right  is  the 
choice  of  the  agents;  and  among  the  many  debts  of 
gratitude  which  this  nation  owes  to  President  McKinley, 
no  debt  is  greater  than  the  debt  we  owe  him  for  the 
choice  of  his  instruments,  such  a  choice  as  that  of  Taft, 
such  a  choice  as  that  of  Wood.  \We  sent  Taft  to  the 
Philippines;  we  sent  Wrood  to  Cirba;  both  of  them  as 
tested  by  the  standard  of  our  commercial  life,  poor  men ; 
each  man  with  little  more  than  his  salary  to  keep  himself 
and  his  family;  each  man  to  handle  millions  upon  mil 
lions  of  dollars,  to  have  the  power  by  mere  conniving  at 
what  was  improper  to  acquire  untold  wealth, — and  sent 
them  knowing  that  we  did  not  ever  have  to  consider 
whether  such  opportunities  would  be  temptations  toward 
them  ;  sent  them  knowing  that  they  had  the  ideals  of  the 
true  American  and  that,  therefore,  we  did  not  have  to 
consider  the  chance  of  such  a  temptation  appealing  to 
them. 

Taft  went  to  the  Philippines  to  stay  there ;  not  only 
forfeiting  thereby  the  certainty  of  brilliant  rise  in  his  pro 
fession  on  the  bench  or  at  the  bar  here  if  he  had  stayed, 
but  at  imminent  risk  to  his  own  health;  because  he  felt 
that  his  duty  as  an  American  made  him  go ;  that,  as 
President  McKinley  told  me  of  him,  he  had  been  drafted 
into  the  service  of  the  country  and  he  could  not  honor 
ably  refuse.  We  have  seen  in  consequence  the  Philippine 
Islands  administered  by  the  American  official  who  is  at 
the  head  of  the  Government  and  by  his  colleagues  in  the 
interesc  primarily  of  their  people,  and  seeking  to  obtain 
for  the  1  >  ifes,  for  the  dominant  race,  that  spent 

its  blood  and  hs  treasure  in  making  firm  and  stable  the 
government  of  those  islands,  the  reward  that  comes  from 
the  conscio^  s  of  duty  well  done.  Under  Taft,  by  and 


204  ADDRESSES 

through  his  efforts,  not  only  have  peace  and  material 
well-being  come  to  those  islands  to  a  degree  never  before 
known  in  their  recorded  history,  and  to  a  degree  infin 
itely  greater  than  had  ever  been  dreamed  possible  by 
those  who  knew  them  best,  but  more  than  that,  a  greater 
measure  of  self-government  has  been  given  to  them  than 
is  now  given  to  any  other  Asiatic  people  under  alien  rule, 
than  to  any  other  Asiatic  people  under  their  own  rulers, 
save  Japan  alone.  That  is  an  achievement  of  the  past 
five  years  whigh  I  hold  to  be  absolutely  unparalleled  in 
history ;  and  Ywhen  the  debit  and  credit  side  of  our 
national  life  is'fmally  made  up  a  long  stroke  shall  be  put 
to  the  credit  side  for  what  has  been  done  in  the  Philip- 
pin.es  under  Taft  and  his  associates} 

In  the  same  way  Leonard  Wood  worked  in  Cuba.  Put 
down  there  to  do  an  absolutely  new  task,  to  take  a 
people  of  a  different  race,  a  different  speech,  a  different 
creed,  a  people  just  emerging  from  the  hideous  welter  of 
a  war,  cruel  and  sanguinary,  beyond  what  we  in  this 
fortunate  country  can  readily  conceive,  to  take  a  people 
down  in  the  depths  of  poverty  and  misery,  just  re 
covering  from  suffering  which  makes  one  shudder  to 
think  of,  a  people  untrained  utterly  and  absolutely  in 
self-government,  and  fit  them  for  it ;  and  he  did  it.  For 
three  years  he  worked.  He  established  a  school  system 
as  good  as  the  best  that  we  have  in  any  of  our  States. 
He  cleaned  cities  which  had  never  been  cleaned  in  their 
existence  before.  He  secured  absolute  safety  for  life  and 
property.  He  did  the  kind  of  governmental  work  which 
should  be  the  undying  honor  of  our  per  pie  forever.  And 
he  came  home  to  what?  He  came  home  to  be  thanked 
by  a  few,  to  be  attacked  by  others — not  to  their  credit, — 
and  to  have  as  his  real  reward  the  ser.se  that  though  his 
work  had  been  done  at  pecuniary  sacrifice  to  him,  that 
though  the  demands  upon  him  had  been  such  as  to  eat 
into  his  private  means,  yet  he  had  worth r  id  well  done 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  205 

his  duty  as  an  American  citizen  and  reflected  fresh  honor 
upon  the  uniform  of  the  United  States  Army. 

I  have  chosen  Taft  and  Wood  simply  as  instances  of 
what  other  men  by  the  hundred  have  done,  Americans 
who  have  graduated  from  no  college,  Americans  who 
have  graduated  from  all  our  different  colleges,  and  espe 
cially  by  practically  all  those  Americans  who  have  gradu 
ated  from  the  two  great  typical  American  institutions  of 
learning — West  Point  and  Annapolis.  Taft  and  Wood 
and  their  fellows  are  spending  or  have  spent  the  best 
years  of  their  prime  in  doing  a  work  which  means  to 
them  pecuniary  loss,  at  the  best  a  bare  livelihood  while 
they  are  doing  it,  and  are  doing  it  gladly  because  they  re 
alize  the  truth  that  the  highest  privilege  that  can  be  given 
to  any  American  is  the  privilege  of  serving  his  country, 
his  fellow-Americans.  As  I  am  speaking  to  an  audience 
with  proper  ideals,  when  I  say  that  Taft  and  Wood  have 
done  all  this  service  to  their  pecuniary  loss  I  am  holding 
them  up  not  for  pity  but  for  admiration.  Every  man, 
every  woman  here,  should  feel  it  incumbent  upon  him  or 
her  to  welcome  with  joy  the  chance  to  render  ser 
vice  to  the  country,  service  to  our  people  at  large, 
and  to  accept  the  rendering  of  the  service  as  in  itself 
ample  repayment  therefor.  Do  not  misunderstand  me. 
The  average  man,  the  average  woman  must  earn  his  or 
her  living  in  one  way  or  another,  and  I  most  emphati 
cally  do  not  advise  any  one  to  decline  to  do  the  humdrum, 
every-day  duties  because  there  may  come  a  chance  for  the 
display  of. heroism. 

I  ask  of  you  the  straightforward,  earnest  performance 
of  duty  in  all  the  little  things  that  come  up  day  by  day  in 
business,  in  domestic  life,  in  every  way,  and  then  when 
the  opportunity  comes,  if  you  have  thus  done  your  duty 
in  the  lesser  things,  I  know  you  will  rise  level  to  the 
heroic  needs. 


XXIX 

AT  CARSON  CITY,  NEVADA,  MAY  19,   1903 

Mr.  Governor,  Mr.  May  or,  and  you,  my  fellow -citizens  : 

It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  to  be  introduced  in  the 
more  than  kind  words  the  Governor  has  used,  because 
the  Governor  has  been  a  genuine  pioneer. 

Here  in  this  great  western  country,  the  country  which 
it  is  what  it  is  purely  because  the  pioneers  who  came  here 
had  iron  in  their  veins,  because  they  were  able  to  conquer 
plain  and  mountain,  and  to  make  the  wilderness  blossom, 
we  are  not  to  be  excused  if  we  do  not  see  to  it  that  the 
generation  that  comes  after  us  is  trained  to  have  the  sum 
of  the  fundamental  qualities  which  enabled  their  fathers 
to  succeed. 

I  want  to  say  one  special  word  to-day  here  in  Carson 
City  on  a  subject  in  which  all  of  our  people  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  take  an  interest,  but  which  affects 
in  especial  the  people  of  the  States  of  the  great  plains 
and  mountains  and  affects  no  State  more  than  it  does 
Nevada — the  question  of  irrigation.  Now  as  I  say  I  do 
not  regard  that  as  in  any  way  merely  a  question  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  States,  or  of  the  great  plains  States, 
because  anything  which  tends  for  the  well-being  of  any 
portion  of  the  Union  is  therefore  for  the  well-being  of  all 
of  it,  and  it  was  for  that  reason  that  I  felt  warranted  in 
appealing  to  the  people  of  the  seaboard  States  on  the 
Atlantic,  to  the  people  of  the  States  of  the  Great  Lakes 
and  the  Mississippi  Valley,  to  say  that  it  was  their  duty 

206 


CARSON  CITY  207 

to  help  in  bringing  about  a  scheme  of  national  irrigation, 
because  the  interest  of  any  part  of  this  country  is  the 
interest  of  all  of  it ;  and  no  man  is  a  really  good  American 
who  fails  to  grasp  that  fact. 

The  National  Government  is  still,  as  you  all  well  know, 
but  as  many  Easterners  do  not  know,  the  greatest  land 
owner  in  the  Western  States,  and  among  all  those  States 
Nevada  holds  the  great  proportion  of  vacant  public  land, 
and  the  need  of  Nevada  for  Federal  assistance  was  one 
of  the  strongest  arguments  used  in  the  discussion  which 
preceded  the  reclamation  act  of  June,  1902,  the  irrigation 
act  of  a  year  ago.  The  great  extent  of  the  vacant  public 
lands  in  the  State,  the  fact  that  its  water  supply  came 
chiefly  from  streams  rising  in  the  adjoining  State  of  Cali 
fornia,  and  the  overwhelming  difficulties  which  for  these 
and  other  reasons  prevented  the  people  of  Nevada  from 
efficiently  acting  in  their  own  interest,  made,  in  my  judg 
ment,  and,  as  it  proved,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Congress, 
Federal  interference  absolutely  imperative.  It  is  a  matter 
for  the  strongest  congratulation  not  only  for  the  West, 
but  for  the  whole  Nation  that  the  policy  went  into  effect. 
It  is  a  matter  of  special  congratulation  to  Nevada  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  guided  in  his  choice  wholly  by 
actual  conditions  on  the  ground,  has  been  led  to  under 
take  one  of  the  five  sets  of  works  which  have  been  first 
undertaken,  here  in  Nevada,  particularly  near  Reno  on 
the  Truckee  River,  as  one  of  the  national  projects  for  the 
starting  and  working  of  the  methods  of  the  law..  Exten 
sive  surveys  have  already  been  made,  and  the  projects  for 
water  storage  and  water  distribution  are  at  a  point  which 
warrants  our  belief  that  immediate  action  is  in  sight. 
There  are  vast  tracts  of  excellent  land  still  in  the  owner 
ship  of  the  General  Government  here  in  Nevada  and  else 
where  to  which  the  reclamation  act  will  bring  the  flood 
waters  that  now  annually  go  to  waste.  For  Nevada  most 
of  these  waters  originate  in  the  high  mountains  lying  in 


208  ADDRESSES 

sight  of  Reno,  largely  just  across  the  State  line  in  Cali 
fornia.  Some  of  these  mountains  have  been  included  in 
the  forest  reserves,  and  your  interests  and  the  interests 
of  the  irrigators  in  California  imperatively  demand  the 
extension  of  the  forest-reserve  system  so  that  the  source 
of  supply  for  the  great  reservoirs  and  irrigation  works 
may  be  safe  from  fire,  from  over-grazing,  and  from  de 
structive  lumbering.  I  ask  you  to  pay  attention  to  what 
I  say  when  I  use  the  word  destructive  lumbering ;  no  one 
can  desire  to  prevent,  or  do  anything  but  help,  practical 
and  conservative  lumbering.  In  other  words,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  we  have  reached  a  condition  in  which  it  must  be 
the  object  of  the  Nation  and  the  State  to  favor  the  de 
velopment  of  the  home  maker,  of  the  man  who  takes  up 
the  land  intending  to  keep  it  for  himself  and  for  his 
children,  so  that  it  shall  be  even  of  better  use  to  them 
than  to  him. 

The  opportunities  for  the  development  of  Nevada  are 
very  great.  Until  recently  Nevada  was  only  thought  of 
as  a  mineral  and  stock-raising  State.  Much  can  be  done 
yet  as  regards  both  the  mineral  exploitation  and  the  rais 
ing  of  stock  within  the  State ;  but  now  under  the  stimulus 
of  irrigation  it  is  probable  that  irrigated  agriculture  will 
come  to  the  front,  and  when  it  does  the  population  will 
increase  with  a  rapidity  and  permanence  never  before 
known.  The  State  of  Nevada  has  led  the  way  not  only 
in  the  strength  of  its  plea  for  national  aid  in  irrigation, 
but  also  in  its  willingness  to  assist  in  the  work.  I  wish 
to  lay  emphasis  on  the  fact  that  in  Nevada  the  authori 
ties  have  been  anxious  in  every  way  to  help  in  working 
out  the  problem  of  irrigation  ;  and  to  pay  all  acknowledg 
ment  to  them  now.  The  recent  legislature  passed  laws 
which  in  many  respects  should  serve  as  models  for  the 
legislation  of  other  States.  The  union  of  land  and  water 
under  the  national  law  has  been  recognized,  and  so  has 
the  fundamental  proposition  which  necessarily  underlies 


CARSON  CITY  209 

the  prosperity  of  all  communities  in  which  irrigated  agri 
culture  is  the  chief  industry — namely,  that  the  water 
belongs  to  the  people  and  cannot  be  made  a  monopoly. 
The  public  appreciation  of  this  fundamental  truth,  that 
the  water  belongs  to  the  people  to  be  taken  and  put  to 
beneficial  use,  will  wipe  out  many  controversies  which  are 
at  present  so  harmful  to  the  development  of  the  West. 
And  the  example  of  Nevada  will  be  of  material  aid  in 
bringing  about  this  fortunate  result. 

As  I  said  of  the  forests  so  it  is  even  more  true  of 
the  water  supply.  It  should  be  our  constant  policy  by 
National  and  by  State  legislation  to  see  that  the  water  is 
used  for  the  benefit  of  the  occupants  of  the  soil,  of  those 
who  till  and  use  the  soil,  that  it  is  not  exploited  by  any 
one  man  or  set  of  men  in  his  or  their  interests  as  against 
the  interests  of  those  on  the  land  who  are  to  use  it.  It 
is  a  fundamental  truth  that  the  prosperity  of  any  people 
is  simply  another  term  for  the  prosperity  of  the  home 
makers  among  that  people.  Our  entire  policy  in  irriga 
tion,  in  forestry,  in  handling  the  public  lands,  should  be  in 
recognition  of  that  truth,  to  favor  in  every  way  the  man 
who  wishes  to  take  up  a  given  area  of  soil  and  thereon  to 
build  a  home  in  which  he  will  rear  his  children  as  useful 
citizens  of  the  State. 


XXX 

AT  SPOKANE,  WASHINGTON,  MAY  26,  1903 

Senator  Turner,  and  you ,  my  fellow- Americans  : 

I  am  in  a  city  at  the  eastern  gateway  of  this  State,  with 
the  great  railroad  systems  of  the  State  running  through 
it.  On  the  western  edge  of  this  State,  in  Puget  Sound, 
I  have  seen  the  homing  places  of  the  great  steamship 
lines  which,  in  connection  with  these  great  railroads,  are 
doing  so  much  to  develop  the  Oriental  trade  of  this 
country  and  this  State.  Washington  will  owe  jio  small 
part  of  its  future  greatness  (and  that  greatness  will  be 
great  indeed)  to  the  fact  that  it  is  thus  doing  its  share  in 
acquiring  for  the  United  States  the  dominance  of  the 
Pacific.  Those  railroads,  the  men  and  the  corporations 
that  have  built  them,  have  rendered  a  very  great  service 
to  the  community.  The  men  who  are  building,  the  cor 
porations  which  are  building,  the  great  steamship  lines 
have  likewise  rendered  a  very  great  service  to  the  com 
munity.  Every  man  who  has  made  wealth  or  used  it 
in  developing  great  legitimate  business  enterprises  has 
been  of  benefit  and  not  harm  to  the  country  at  large. 
This  city  has  grown  by  leaps  and  bounds  only  when  the 
railroads  came  to  it,  when  the  railroads  came  to  the  State ; 
and  if  the  State  were  now  cut  off  from  its  connection  by 
rail  and  by  steamship  with  the  rest  of  the  world  its  posi 
tion  would,  of  course,  diminish  incalculably.  Great  good 
has  come  from  the  development  of  our  railroad  system ; 
great  good  has  been  done  by  the  individuals  and  corpora- 

210 


SPOKANE  211 

tions  that  have  made  that  development  possible ;  and  in 
return  good  is  done  to  them,  and  not  harm,  when  they 
are  required  to  obey  the  law.  Ours  is  a  government  of 
liberty  by,  through,  and  under  the  law.  No  man  is  above 
it  and  no  man  is  below  it.  The  crime  of  cunning,  the 
crime  of  greed,  the  crime  of  violence,  are  all  equally 
crimes,  and  against  them  all  alike  the  law  must  set  its  face. 
This  is  not  and  never  shall  be  a  government  either  of 
plutocracy  or  of  a  mob.  It  is,  it  has  been,  and  it  will  be  a 
government  of  the  people;  including  alike  the  people  of 
great  wealth,  of  moderate  wealth,  the  people  who  employ 
others,  the  people  who  are  employed,  the  wage  worker, 
the  lawyer,  the  mechanic,  the  banker,  the  farmer;  in 
cluding  them  all,  protecting  each  and  every  one  if  he  acts 
decently  and  squarely,  and  discriminating  against  any 
one  of  them,  no  matter  from  what  class  he  comes,  if  he 
does  not  act  squarely  and  fairly,  if  he  does  not  obey  the 
law.  While  all  people  are  foolish  if  they  violate  or  rail 
against  the  law,  wicked  as  well  as  foolish,  but  all  foolish 
— yet  the  most  foolish  man  in  this  Republic  is  the  man 
of  wealth  who  complains  because  the  law  is  administered 
with  impartial  justice  against  or  for  him.  His  folly  is 
greater  than  the  folly  of  any  other  man  who  so  com 
plains;  for  he  lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being  because 
the  law  does  in  fact  protect  him  and  his  property. 

We  have  the  right  to  ask  every  decent  American  citizen 
to  rally  to  the  support  of  the  law  if  it  is  ever  broken 
against  the  interest  of  the  rich  man ;  and  we  have  the 
same  right  to  ask  that  rich  man  cheerfully  and  gladly  to 
acquiesce  in  the  enforcement  against  his  seeming  interest 
of  the  law,  if  it  is  the  law.  Incidentally,  whether  he  ac 
quiesces  or  not,  the  law  will  be  enforced ;  and  this  who 
ever  he  may  be,  great  or  small,  and  at  whichever  end  of 
the  social  scale  he  may  be. 

I  ask  that  we  see  to  it  in  our  country  that  the  line  of 
division  in  the  deeper  matters  of  our  citizenship  be  drawn, 


212  ADDRESSES 

never  between  section  and  section,  never  between  creed 
and  creed,  never,  thrice  never,  between  class  and  class ; 
but  that  the  line  be  drawn  on  the  line  of  conduct,  cutting 
through  sections,  cutting  through  creeds,  cutting  through 
classes;  the  line  that  divides  the  honest  from  the  dis 
honest,  the  line  that  divides  good  citizenship  from  bad 
citizenship,  the  line  that  declares  a  man  a  good  citizen 
only  if,  and  always  if,  he  acts  in  accordance  with  the  im 
mutable  law  of  righteousness,  which  has  been  the  same 
from  the  beginning  of  history  to  the  present  moment 
and  which  will  be  the  same  from  now  until  the  end  of 
recorded  time. 


XXXI 

AT  COLUMBIA  GARDENS,  BUTTE,  MONTANA, 
MAY  27,   1903 

Mr.  Chairman,  and  you ,  my  fellow -citizens  : 

It  would  have  been  a  great  pleasure  to  come  to  Butte 
in  any  event ;  it  is  a  double  pleasure  to  come  here  at  the 
invitation  of  the  representatives  of  the  wage  workers  of 
Butte.  I  do  not  say  merely  working  men,  because  I  hold 
that  every  good  American  who  does  his  duty  must  be  a 
working  man.  There  are  many  different  kinds  of  work 
to  do ;  but  so  long  as  the  work  is  honorable,  is  necessary, 
and  is  well  done  the  man  who  does  it  well  is  entitled  to 
the  respect  of  his  fellows. 

I  have  come  here  to  this  meeting  especially  as  the  in 
vited  guest  of  the  wage  workers,  and  I  am  happy  to  be 
able  to  say  that  the  kind  of  speech  I  will  make  to  you  I 
would  make  in  just  exactly  the  same  language  to  any 
group  of  employers  or  any  set  of  our  citizens  in  any 
corner  of  this  Republic.  I  do  not  think  so  far  as  I 
know  that  I  have  ever  promised  beforehand  anything  I  did 
not  make  a  strong  effort  to  make  good  afterwards.  It  is 
sometimes  very  attractive  and  very  pleasant  to  make  any 
kind  of  a  promise  without  thinking  whether  or  not  you 
can  fulfil  it ;  but  in  the  after  event  it  is  always  unpleasant 
when  the  time  for  fulfilling  comes;  for  in  the  long  run 
the  most  disagreeable  truth  is  a  safer  companion  than  the 
most  pleasant  falsehood. 

213 


214  ADDRESSES 

To-night  I  have  come  hither  looking  on  either  hand  at 
the  results  of  the  enterprises  which  have  made  Butte  so 
great.  The  man  who  by  the  use  of  his  capital  develops 
a  great  mine,  the  man  who  by  the  use  of  his  capital 
builds  a  great  railroad,  the  man  who  by  the  use  of  his 
capital  either  individually  or  joined  with  others  like  him 
does  any  great  legitimate  business  enterprise,  confers  a 
benefit,  not  a  harm,  upon  the  community,  and  is  entitled 
to  be  so  regarded.  He  is  entitled  to  the  protection  of 
the  law,  and  in  return  he  is  to  be  required  himself  to 
obey  the  law.  The  law  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  The 
law  is  to  be  administered  neither  for  the  rich  man  as  such, 
nor  for  the  poor  man  as  such.  It  is  to  be  administered 
for  every  man,  rich  or  poor,  if  he  is  an  honest  and  law- 
abiding  citizen;  and  it  is  to  be  invoked  against  any 
man,  rich  or  poor,  who  violates  it,  without  regard  to 
which  end  of  the  social  scale  he  may  stand,  without 
regard  to  whether  his  offence  takes  the  form  of  greed 
and  cunning,  or  the  form  of  physical  violence ;  in  either 
case  if  he  violates  the  law,  the  law  is  to  be  invoked 
against  him;  and  in  so  invoking  it  I  have  the  right  to 
challenge  the  support  of  all  good  citizens  and  to  demand 
the  acquiescence  of  every  good  man.  I  hope  I  will  have 
it ;  but  once  for  all  I  wish  it  understood  that  even  if  I  do 
not  have  it  I  shall  enforce  the  law. 

The  soldiers  who  fought  in  the  great  Civil  War  fought 
for  liberty  under,  by,  and  through  the  law;  and  they 
fought  to  put  a  stop  once  for  all  to  any  effort  to  sunder 
this  country  on  the  lines  of  sectional  hatred;  therefore 
their  memory  shall  be  forever  precious  to  our  people. 
We  need  to  keep  ever  in  mind  that  he  is  the  worst 
enemy  of  this  country  who  would  strive  to  separate  its 
people  along  the  lines  of  section  against  section,  of  creed 
against  creed,  or  of  class  against  class.  There  are  two 
sides  to  that.  It  is  a  base  and  an  infamous  thing  for  the 
man  of  means  to  act  in  a  spirit  of  arrogant  and  brutal  dis- 


BUTTE  21$ 

regard  of  right  toward  his  fellow  who  has  less  means ;  and 
it  is  no  less  infamous,  no  less  base,  to  act  in  a  spirit  of 
rancor,  envy,  and  hatred  against  the  man  of  greater 
means,  merely  because  of  his  greater  means.  If  we  are 
to  preserve  this  Republic  as  it  was  founded,  as  it  was 
handed  down  to  us  by  the  men  of  '61  to  '65,  and  as  it  is 
and  will  be,  we  must  draw  the  line  never  between  section 
and  section,  never  between  creed  and  creed,  thrice  never 
between  class  and  class,  but  along  the  line  of  conduct,  the 
line  that  separates  the  good  citizen  wherever  he  may  be 
found  from  the  bad  citizen  wherever  he  may  be  found. 
This  is  not  and  never  shall  be  a  government  of  a  pluto 
cracy;  it  is  not  and  never  shall  be  a  government  by  a 
mob.  It  is  as  it  has  been  and  as  it  will  be  a  government 
in  which  every  honest  man,  every  decent  man,  be  he  em 
ployer  or  employed,  wage  worker,  mechanic,  banker, 
lawyer,  farmer,  be  he  who  he  may,  if  he  acts  squarely  and 
fairly,  if  he  does  his  duty  by  his  neighbor  and  the  State, 
receives  the  full  protection  of  the  law  and  is  given  the 
amplest' chance  to  exercise  the  ability  that  there  is  within 
him,  alone  or  in  combination  with  his  fellows  as  he 
desires. 

My  friends,  it  is  sometimes  easier  to  preach  a  doctrine 
under  which  the  millennium  will  be  promised  offhand  if 
you  have  a  particular  kind  of  law,  or  follow  a  particular 
kind  of  conduct — it  is  easier,  but  it  is  not  better.  The 
millennium  is  not  here ;  it  is  some  thousand  years  off  yet. 
Meanwhile  there  must  be  a  good  deal  of  work  and  strug 
gle,  a  good  deal  of  injustice;  we  shall  often  see  the  tower 
of  Siloam  fall  on  the  just  as  well  as  the  unjust.  We  are 
bound  in  honor  to  try  to  remedy  injustice,  but  if  we  are 
wise  we  will  seek  to  remedy  it  in  practical  ways.  Above 
all,  remember  this :  that  the  most  unsafe  adviser  to  follow 
is  the  man  who  would  advise  us  to  do  wrong  in  order  that 
we  may  benefit  by  it.  That  man  is  never  a  safe  man  to 
follow;  he  is  always  the  most  dangerous  of  guides.  The 


2i6  ADDRESSES 

man  who  seeks  to  persuade  any  of  us  that  our  advantage 
comes  in  wronging  or  oppressing  others  can  be  depended 
upon,  if  the  opportunity  comes,  to  do  wrong  to  us  in  his 
own  interest,  just  as  he  has  endeavored  to  make  us  in  our 
supposed  interest  do  wrong  to  others. 


XXXII 

AT  THE  TABERNACLE,  SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH, 
MAY  29,   1903 

Mr.  Governor,  Mr.  Mayor,  Senator  Kearns,  and  you,  my 

fellow- A  mericans  : 

I  am  particularly  glad  to  have  the  chance  to  speak  to 
you  here  in  this  city,  in  Utah,  this  morning,  because  you 
have  exemplified  a  doctrine  which  it  seems  to  me  all- 
essential  for  our  people  ever  to  keep  fresh  in  their  minds 
— the  fact  that  though  natural  resources  can  do  a  good 
deal,  though  the  law  can  do  a  good  deal,  the  fundamen 
tal  requisite  in  building  up  prosperity  and  civilization  is 
the  requisite  of  individual  character  in  the  individual  man 
or  woman.  Here  in  this  State  the  pioneers  and  those 
who  came  after  them  took  not  the  land  that  would  ordi 
narily  be  chosen  as  land  that  would  yield  return  with  little 
effort.  You  took  a  territory  which  at  the  outset  was 
called  after  the  desert,  and  you  literally — not  figuratively 
— you  literally  made  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose. 
The  fundamental  element  in  building  up  Utah  has  been 
the  work  of  the  citizens  of  Utah.  And  you  did  it  be 
cause  your  people  entered  in  to  possess  the  land  and  to 
leave  it  after  them  to  their  children  and  their  children's 
children.  You  here  whom  I  am  addressing  and  your  prede 
cessors  did  not  come  in  to  exploit  the  land  and  then  go 
somewhere  else.  You  came  in,  as  the  Governor  has  said, 
as  home  makers,  to  make  homes  for  yourselves  and  those 
who  should  come  after  you ;  and  that  is  the  only  way  in 

217 


218  ADDRESSES 

which  a  State  can  be  built  up,  in  which  the  Nation  can  be 
built  up.  You  have  built  up  this  great  community  be 
cause  you  came  here  with  the  purpose  of  making  this 
your  abiding  home,  and  of  leaving  to  your  children  not 
an  impoverished,  but  an  enriched  heritage ;  and  I  ask  that 
all  our  people  from  one  ocean  to  the  other,  but  especially 
the  people  of  the  arid  and  the  semi-arid  regions,  the  peo 
ple  of  the  great  plains,  the  people  of  the  mountains, 
approach  the  problem  of  taking  care  of  the  physical 
resources  of  the  country  in  the  spirit  which  has  made 
Utah  what  it  is.  You  have  developed  your  metal  wealth 
wonderfully ;  and  your  growth  is  not  a  boom  growth — it 
is  a  thoroughly  healthy,  normal  growth.  During  the  past 
decade  the  population  has  doubled  and  the  wealth  quad 
rupled  ;  and  labor  is  employed  at  as  high  a  compensation 
as  is  paid  elsewhere  in  the  world.  Although  you  are  not 
essentially  a  mining  State,  in  the  last  year  you  marketed 
thirty  millions  worth  of  ore ;  and  again  you  showed  your 
good  sense  in  the  way  you  handled  it ;  for  you  paid  five 
millions  in  dividends  and  you  invested  the  balance  in 
labor  and  surplus.  The  effort  to  make  a  big  showing  in 
dividends  is  not  always  healthy  for  the  future.  Here 
you  have  shown  your  wonderful  capacity  to  develop 
the  earth  so  as  to  make  both  irrigated  agriculture 
and  stock-raising  in  all  its  forms  two  great  industries. 
When  you  deal  with  a  mine  you  take  the  ore  out  of 
the  earth  and  take  it  away,  and  in  the  end  exhaust  the 
mine.  The  time  may  be  very  long  in  coming  before 
it  is  exhausted,  or  it  may  be  a  short  time ;  but  in  any 
event,  mining  means  the  exhaustion  of  the  mine.  But 
that  is  exactly  what  agriculture  does  not  and  must  not 
mean. 

So  far  from  agriculture  properly  exhausting  the  land, 
it  is  always  the  sign  of  a  vicious  system  of  agriculture  if 
the  land  is  rendered  poorer  by  it.  The  direct  contrary 
should  be  the  fact.  After  the  farmer  has  had  the  farm 


SALT  LAKE  CITY  219 

for  his  life  he  should  be  able  to  hand  it  to  his  children  as 
a  better  farm  than  it  was  when  he  had  it. 

In  these  regions,  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  regions,  it  is 
especially  incumbent  upon  us  to  treat  the  question  of  the 
natural  pasturage,  the  question  of  the  forests,  and  the 
question  of  the  use  of  the  waters,  all  from  the  one  stand 
point — the  standpoint  of  the  far-seeing  statesman,  of  the 
far-seeing  citizen,  who  wishes  to  preserve  and  not  to 
exhaust  the  resources  of  the  country,  who  wishes  to  see 
those  resources  come  into  the  hands  not  of  a  few  men  of 
great  wealth,  least  of  all  into  the  hands  of  a  few  men  who 
will  speculate  in  them ;  but  be  distributed  among  many 
men,  each  of  whom  intends  to  make  his  home  in  the 
land. 

This  whole  so-called  arid  and  semi-arid  region  is  by 
nature  the  stock  range  of  the  nation.  One  of  the  ques 
tions  which  are  rising  to  confront  us  is  how  this  range 
may  be  made  to  produce  the  greatest  number  and  best 
quality  of  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  not  only  this  year, 
not  only  next  year,  but  for  this  generation  and  the  next 
generation.  The  old  system  of  grazing  the  ranges  so 
closely  as  to  injure  the  whole  crop  of  grass  was  a  serious 
detriment  to  the  development  of  the  West,  a  serious 
detriment  to  the  development  of  our  people.  The  ranges 
must  be  treated  as  a  great  invested  capital ;  and  that  old 
system  tended  to  dissipate  and  partially  to  destroy  that 
capital.  That  is  something  that  we  cannot  as  a  nation  of 
home  makers  permit.  The  wise  man,  the  wise  industry, 
the  wise  nation,  maintains  such  capital  unimpaired  and 
tries  to  increase  it ;  and  more  and  more  the  range  lands 
will  be  used  in  conjunction  with  the  small  irrigable  areas 
which  they  include ;  so  that  the  industry  can  take  on  a 
more  stable  character  than  ever  before.  It  is  impossible 
permanently,  although  it  may  be  advisable  for  the  time 
being,  to  move  stock  in  a  body  from  summer  to  winter 
ranges  across  country  which  can  be  made  into  home- 


220  ADDRESSES 

steads,  because  when  the  country  can  itself  be  taken  by 
actual  settlers,  in  the  long  run  it  will  only  be  possible  to 
move  the  stock  through  hundreds  of  miles  of  dusty  lanes 
where  they  cannot  graze,  where  they  cannot  live.  Our 
aim  must  be  steadily  to  help  develop  the  settler,  the  man 
who  lives  in  the  land  and  is  growing  up  with  it  and  rais 
ing  his  children  to  own  it  after  him.  More  and  more 
hereafter  the  stock  owners  will  have  the  necessity  forced 
upon  them  of  providing  green  summer  pasturage  within 
the  limits  of  their  own  ranges;  and  so  the  question  of 
irrigation  is  well-nigh  as  important  to  the  stockmen  as  to 
the  agriculturist  proper. 

In  the  same  way  our  mountain  forests  must  be  pre 
served  from  the  harm  done  by  over-grazing.  Let  all  the 
grazing  be  done  in  them  that  can  be  done  without  injury 
to  them,  but  do  not  let  the  mountain  forests  be  despoiled 
by  the  man  who  will  over-graze  them  and  destroy  them 
for  the  sake  of  three  years'  use,  and  then  go  somewhere 
else,  and  leave  by  so  much  diminished  the  heritage  of 
those  who  remain  permanently  in  the  land.  I  believe 
that  already  the  movement  has  begun  which  will  make  in 
the  long  run  the  stock-raisers,  of  whom  I  have  been  one 
myself,  whose  business  I  know,  and  with  whom  I  feel 
the  heartiest  sympathy — through  the  enlightenment  of 
their  own  self-interest — become  the  heartiest  defenders 
and  the  chief  beneficiaries  of  the  wise  and  moderate  use 
of  forest  ranges,  both  within  and  without  the  forest  re 
serves.  It  is  and  it  must  be  the  definite  policy  of  this 
Government  to  consider  the  good  of  all  its  citizens — 
stockmen,  lumbermen,  irrigators,  and  all  others — in  deal 
ing  with  the  forest  reserves ;  and  for  that  reason  I  most 
earnestly  desire  in  every  way  to  bring  about  the  heartiest 
co-operation  between  the  men  who  are  doing  the  actual 
business  of  stock-raising,  the  actual  business  of  irrigated 
agriculture,  the  actual  business  of  lumbering — the  closest 
and  most  intimate  relations,  the  heartiest  co-operation 


SALT  LAKE  CITY  221 

between  them  and  the  Government  at  Washington 
through  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  Of  course  I  do 
not  have  to  say  to  any  audience  of  intelligent  people  that 
nothing  is  such  an  enemy  to  the  stock  industry  as  persist 
ent  over-grazing.  We  shall  have  not  far  hence  to  raise 
the  problem  of  the  best  method  of  making  use  of  the 
public  range.  Our  people  have  not  as  yet  settled  in  their 
own  minds  what  is  that  best  method.  In  some  way  there 
will  have  to  be  formed  such  regulation  as  shall  without 
undue  restriction  prevent  the  needless  over-grazing,  while 
keeping  the  public  lands  open  to  settlement  through 
homestead  entry.  Such  a  policy  would  of  course  be  of 
the  most  far-reaching  benefit  to  the  whole  range  industry. 
It  is  the  same  in  dealing  with  our  forest  reserves.  Al 
most  every  industry  depends  in  some  more  or  less  vital 
way  upon  the  preservation  of  the  forests;  and  while  citi 
zens  die,  the  Government  and  the  Nation  do  not  die,  and 
we  are  bound  in  dealing  with  the  forests  to  exercise  the 
foresight  necessary  to  use  them  now,  but  to  use  them  in 
such  a  way  as  will  also  keep  them  for  those  who  are  to 
come  after  us. 

The  first  great  object  of  the  forest  reserves  is  of  course 
the  first  great  object  of  the  whole  land  policy  of  the 
United  States, — the  creation  of  homes,  the  favoring  of 
the  home-maker.  That  is  why  we  wish  to  provide  for  the 
home-makers  of  the  present  and  the  future  the  steady 
and  continuous  supply  of  timber,  grass,  and,  above  all, 
of  water.  That  is  the  object  of  the  forest  reserves,  and 
that  is  why  I  bespeak  your  cordial  co-operation  in  their 
preservation.  Remember  you  must  realize,  what  I 
thoroughly  realize,  that  however  wise  a  policy  may  be  it 
can  be  enforced  only  if  the  people  of  the  States  believe 
in  it.  We  can  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  forest- 
reserve  law  or  of  any  other  law  only  so  far  as  the  best 
sentiment  of  the  community  or  the  State  will  permit 
that  enforcement.  Therefore  it  lies  primarily  not  with 


222  ADDRESSES 

the  people  at  Washington,  but  with  you,  yourselves,  to 
see  that  such  policies  are  supported  as  will  redound  to  the 
benefit  of  the  home-makers  and  therefore  the  sure  and 
steady  building  up  of  the  State  as  a  whole. 

One  word  as  to  the  greatest  question  with  which  our 
people  as  a  whole  have  to  deal  in  the  matter  of  internal 
development  to-day — the  question  of  irrigation.  Not 
of  recent  years  has  any  more  important  law  been  put 
upon  the  statute  books  of  the  Federal  Government  than 
the  law.^a  year  ago  providing  for  the  first  time  that  the 
National  Government  should  interest  itself  in  aiding  and 
building  up  a  system  of  irrigated  agriculture  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  plains  States.  Here  the  Government 
had  to  a  large  degree  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel  in  the 
person  of  Utah ;  for  what  you  had  done  and  learned  was 
of  literally  incalculable  benefit  to  those  engaged  in  fram 
ing  and  getting  through  the  national  irrigation  law.  Irri 
gation  was  first  practised  on  a  large  scale  in  this  State. 
The  necessity  of  the  pioneers  here  led  to  the  development 
of  irrigation  to  a  degree  absolutely  unknown  before  on 
this  continent.  In  no  respect  is  the  wisdom  of  the  early 
pioneers  made  more  evident  than  in  the  sedulous  care 
they  took  to  provide  for  small  farms,  carefully  tilled  by 
those  who  lived  on  and  benefited  from  them ;  and  hence 
it  comes  about  that  the  average  amount  of  land  required 
to  support  a  family  in  Utah  is  smaller  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  United  States.  We  all  know  that  when  you 
once  get  irrigation  applied  rain  is  a  very  poor  substitute 
for  it.  The  Federal  Government  must  co-operate  with 
Utah  and  Utah  people  for  a  further  extension  of  the  irri 
gated  area.  Many  of  the  simpler  problems  of  obtaining 
and  applying  water  have  already  been  solved  and  so  well 
solved  that,  as  I  have  said,  some  of  the  most  important 
provisions  of  the  Federal  act,  such  as  the  control  of  the 
irrigating  works  by  the  communities  they  serve,  such 
as  making  the  water  appurtenant  to  the  land  and  not  a 


SALT  LAKE  CITY  223 

source  of  speculation  apart  from  the  land,  were  based 
upon  the  experience  of  Utah.  Of  course  the  control  of 
the  larger  streams  which  flow  through  more  than  one 
State  must  come  under  the  Federal  Government.  Many 
of  the  great  tracts  which  will  ultimately  so  enlarge  the 
cultivated  area  of  Utah,  which  will  ultimately  so  increase 
its  population  and  wealth,  are  surrounded  with  intricate 
complications  because  of  the  high  development  which 
irrigation  has  already  reached  in  this  State.  Necessarily 
the  Federal  officers  charged  with  the  execution  of  the 
law  must  proceed  with  great  caution  so  as  not  to  disturb 
present  vested  rights;  but,  subject  to  that,  they  will  go 
forward  as  fast  as  they  can.  They  realize,  and  all  men 
who  have  actually  done  irrigating  here  will  realize,  that 
no  man  is  more  timid  than  the  practical  irrigator  regard 
ing  any  change  in  the  water  distribution.  He  wants  to 
look  well  before  he  leaps.  He  has  learned  from  bitter 
experience  what  damage  can  come  from  well-meant 
changes  hastily  made.  The  Government  can  do  a  good 
deal;  the  Government  will  do  a  good  deal;  but  your  ex 
perience  here  in  Utah  has  shown  that  the  greatest  results 
which  are  accomplishing  most  spring  directly  from  the 
sturdy  courage,  the  self-denial,  the  willingness  with  iron 
resolution  to  endure  the  risk  and  the  suffering  of  the 
pioneers ;  for  they  were  the  men  who  sought  and  found  a 
livelihood  in  what  was  once  a  desert,  and  they  must  be 
protected  in  the  legitimate  fruits  of  their  toil. 

One  of  the  tasks  that  the  Government  must  do  here  in 
Utah  is  to  build  reservoirs  for  the  storage  of  the  flood 
waters,  to  undertake  works  too  great  to  be  undertaken 
by  private  capital.  Great  as  the  task  is,  and  great  as  its 
benefits  will  become,  the  Government  must  do  still  more. 
Beside  the  storage  of  the  water  there  must  be  protection 
of  the  watersheds ;  and  that  is  why  I  ask  you  to  help  the 
National  Government  protect  the  watersheds  by  protect 
ing  the  forests  upon  them. 


.  ur 

XXXIII 


AT  THE  LINCOLN  MONUMENT,  SPRINGFIELD, 
ILLINOIS,  JUNE  4,   1903 

It  is  a  good  thing  that  the  guard  around  the  tomb  of 
Lincoln  should  be  composed  of  colored  soldiers.  It  was 
my  own  good  fortune  at  Santiago  to  serve  beside  colored 
troops.  A  man  who  is  good  enough  to  shed  his  blood  for 
the  country  is  good  enough  to  be  given  a  square  deal 
afterwards.  More  than  that  no  man  is  entitled  to,  and 
less  than  that  no  man  shall  have. 


224 


XXXIV 

AT  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  GRACE  MEMORIAL 
REFORMED  CHURCH,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C., 
JUNE  7,  1903 

I  shall  ask  your  attention  to  three  lines  of  the  Dedica 
tion  Canticle:  "Serve  the  Lord  with  gladness:  enter  into 
His  gates  with  thanksgiving,  and  into  His  courts  with 
praise.  Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord?  or 
who  shall  stand  in  His  holy  place?  He  that  hath  clean 
hands,  and  a  pure  heart ;  who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul 
unto  vanity,  nor  sworn  deceitfully." 

Better  lines  could  surely  not  be  brought  into  any 
dedication  service  of  a  church;  and  it  is  a  happy  thing 
that  we  should  have  repeated  them  this  morning.  This 
church  is  consecrated  to  the  service  of  the  Lord ;  and  we 
can  serve  Him  by  the  way  we  serve  our  fellow-men. 
This  church  is  consecrated  to  service  and  duty.  It  was 
written  of  old  that  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them"  ; 
and  we  can  show  the  faith  that  is  in  us,  we  can  show  the 
sincerity  of  our  devotion,  by  the  fruits  we  bring  forth. 
The  man  who  is  not  a  tender  and  considerate  husband,  a 
loving  and  wise  father,  is  not  serving  the  Lord  when  he 
goes  to  church;  so  with  the  woman;  so  with  all  who 
come  here.  Our  being  in  this  church,  our  communion 
here  with  one  another,  our  sitting  under  the  pastor  and 
hearing  from  him  the  Word  of  God,  must,  if  we  are  sin 
cere,  show  the  effects  in  our  lives  outside.  We  of  the 
Dutch  and  German  Reformed  Churches,  like  our  brethren 


226  ADDRESSES 

of  the  Lutheran  Church,  have  a  peculiar  duty  to  perform 
in  this  great  country  of  ours,  a  country  still  in  the  mak 
ing,  for  we  have  the  duty  peculiarly  incumbent  upon  us 
to  take  care  of  our  brethren  who  come  each  year  from 
overseas  to  our  shores.  The  man  going  to  a  new  coun 
try  is  torn  by  the  roots  from  all  his  old  associations,  and 
there  is  great  danger  to  him  in  the  time  before  he  gets 
his  roots  down  into  the  new  country,  before  he  brings 
himself  into  touch  with  his  fellows  in  the  new  land.  For 
that  reason  I  always  take  a  peculiar  interest  in  the  atti 
tude  of  our  churches  toward  the  immigrants  who  come  to 
these  shores.  I  feel  that  we  should  be  peculiarly  watch 
ful  over  them,  because  of  our  own  history,  because  we 
or  our  fathers  came  here  under  like  conditions.  Now 
that  we  have  established  ourselves  let  us  see  to  it  that  we 
.stretch  out  the  hand  of  help,  the  hand  of  brotherhood,  to 
ward  the  new-comers,  and  help  them  as  speedily  as  pos 
sible  to  get  into  such  relations  that  it  will  be  easy  for 
them  to  walk  well  in  the  new  life.  We  are  not  to  be  ex 
cused  if  we  selfishly  sit  down  and  enjoy  gifts  that  have 
been  given  to  us  and  do  not  try  to  share  them  with  our 
poorer  fellows  coming  from  every  part  of  the  world,  who, 
many  of  them,  stand  in  such  need  of  the  helping  hand ; 
who  often  not  only  meet  too  many  people  anxious  to  as 
sociate  with  them  for  their  detriment,  but  often  too  few 
anxious  to  associate  with  them  for  their  good. 

I  trust  that  with  the  consecration  of  each  new  church 
of  the  Reformed  creed  in  this  our  country  there  will  be 
established  a  fresh  centre  of  effort  to  get  at  and  to  help 
for  their  good  the  people  that  yearly  come  from  overseas 
to  us.  No  more  important  work  can  be  done  by  our 
people ;  important  to  the  cause  of  Christianity,  important 
to  the  cause  of  true  national  life  and  greatness  here  in  our 
own  land. 

Another  thing :  let  us,  so  far  as  strength  is  given  us, 
make  it  evident  to  those  who  look  on  and  who  are  not -of 


GRACE  MEMORIAL  REFORMED  CHURCH    227 

us  that  our  faith  is  not  one  of  words  merely ;  that  it  finds 
expression  in  deeds.  One  sad,  one  lamentable  phase  of 
human  history  is  that  the  very  loftiest  words,  implying 
the  loftiest  ideas,  have  often  been  used  as  cloaks  for  the 
commission  of  dreadful  deeds  of  iniquity.  No  more 
hideous  crimes  have  ever  been  committed  by  men  than 
those  that  have  been  committed  in  the  name  of  liberty, 
of  order,  of  brotherhood,  of  religion.  People  have  butch 
ered  one  another  under  circumstances  of  dreadful  atrocity, 
claiming  all  the  time  to  be  serving  the  object  of  the 
brotherhood  of  man  or  of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  We 
must  in  our  lives,  in  our  efforts,  endeavor  to  further  the 
cause  of  brotherhood  in  the  human  family ;  and  we  must 
do  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  men  anxious  to  find  subject 
for  complaint  or  derision  in  the  churches  of  the  United 
States,  in  our  Church,  may  not  be  able  to  find  it  by 
pointing  out  any  contrast  between  our  professions  and 
our  lives. 

This  church  is  consecrated  to-day  to  duty  and  to  ser 
vice,  to  the  worship  of  the  Creator,  and  to  an  earnest 
effort  on  our  part  so  to  shape  our  lives  among  ourselves 
and  in  relation  to  the  outside  world  that  we  may  feel  that 
we  have  done  our  part  in  bringing  a  little  nearer  the  day 
when  there  shall  be  on  this  earth  a  genuine  brotherhood 
of  man. 


XXXV 

TO  THE  HOLY  NAME  SOCIETY,  AT  OYSTER  BAY, 
N.  Y.,  AUGUST  16,  1903 

Very  Reverend  Dean,  Reverend  Clergy,  and  you,  of  the 

Holy  Name  Society: 

I  count  myself  fortunate  in  having  the  chance  to  say  a 
word  to  you  to-day;  and  at  the  outset  let  me,  Father 
Power,  on  behalf  of  my  neighbors,  your  congregation, 
welcome  all  your  guests  here  to  Oyster  Bay.  I  have  a 
partial  right  to  join  in  that  welcome  myself,  for  it  was  my 
good  fortune  in  the  days  of  Father  Power's  predecessor, 
Father  Belford,  to  be  the  first  man  to  put  down  a  small 
contribution  for  the  erection  of  your  church  here.  I  am 
particularly  glad  to  see  such  a  society  as  this  flourishing 
as  your  society  has  flourished,  because  the  future  welfare 
of  our  nation  depends  upon  the  way  in  which  we  can 
combine  in  our  men — in  our  young  men — decency  and 
strength.  Just  this  morning,  when  attending  service  on 
the  great  battleship  Kearsarge,  I  listened  to  a  sermon  ad 
dressed  to  the  officers  and  enlisted  men  of  the  navy,  in 
which  the  central  thought  was  that  each  American  must 
be  a  good  man  or  he  could  not  be  a  good  citizen.  And 
one  of  the  things  dwelt  upon  in  that  sermon  was  the  fact 
that  a  man  must  be  clean  of  mouth  as  well  as  clean  of  life 
— must  show  by  his  words  as  well  as  by  his  actions  his 
fealty  to  the  Almighty  if  he  was  to  be  what  we  have  a 
right  to  expect  from  men  wearing  the  national  uniform. 
We  have  good  Scriptural  authority  for  the  statement  that 

228 


HOL  Y  NAME  SOCIE TY  229 

it  is  not  what  comes  into  a  man's  mouth  but  what  goes 
out  of  it  that  counts.  I  am  not  addressing  weaklings,  or 
I  should  not  take  the  trouble  to  come  here.  I  am  ad 
dressing  strong,  vigorous  men  who  are  engaged  in  the 
active,  hard  work  of  life ;  and  life  to  be  worth  living  must 
be  a  life  of  active  and  hard  work.  I  am  speaking  to  men 
engaged  in  the  hard,  active  work  of  life,  and  therefore  to 
men  who  will  count  for  good  or  for  evil.  It  is  peculiarly 
incumbent  upon  you  who  have  strength  to  set  a  right  ex 
ample  to  others.  I  ask  you  to  remember  that  you  can 
not  retain  your  self-respect  if  you  are  loose  and  foul  of 
tongue ;  that  a  man  who  is  to  lead  a  clean  and  honorable 
life  must  inevitably  suffer  if  his  speech  likewise  is  not 
clean  and  honorable.  Every  man  here  knows  the  temp 
tations  that  beset  all  of  us  in  this  world.  At  times  any 
man  will  slip.  I  do  not  expect  perfection,  but  I  do  ex 
pect  genuine  and  sincere  effort  toward  being  decent  and 
cleanly  in  thought,  in  word,  and  in  deed.  As  I  said  at 
the  outset,  I  hail  the  work  of  this  society  as  typifying 
one  of  those  forces  which  tend  to  the  betterment  and  up 
lifting  of  our  social  system.  Our  whole  effort  should  be 
toward  securing  a  combination  of  the  strong  qualities 
with  those  qualities  which  we  term  virtues.  I  expect 
you  to  be  strong.  I  would  not  respect  you  if  you  were 
not.  I  do  not  want  to  see  Christianity  professed  only  by 
weaklings ;  I  want  to  see  it  a  moving  spirit  among  men  of 
strength.  I  do  not  expect  you  to  lose  one  particle  of 
your  strength  or  courage  by  being  decent.  On  the  con 
trary,  I  should  hope  to  see  each  man  who  is  a  member 
of  this  society,  from  his  membership  in  it  become  all  the 
fitter  to  do  the  rough  work  of  the  world ;  all  the  fitter  to 
work  in  time  of  peace ;  and  if,  which  may  Heaven  forfend ! 
war  should  come,  all  the  fitter  to  fight  in  time  of  war.  I 
desire  to  see  in  this  country  the  decent  men  strong  and 
the  strong  men  decent,  and  until  we  get  that  combina 
tion  in  pretty  good  shape  we  are  not  going  to  be  by  any 


230  ADDRESSES 

means  as  successful  as  we  should  be.  There  is  always  a 
tendency  among  very  young  men,  and  among  boys  who 
are  not  quite  young  men  as  yet,  to  think  that  to  be 
wicked  is  rather  smart ;  to  think  it  shows  that  they  are 
men.  Oh,  how  often  you  see  some  young  fellow  who 
boasts  that  he  is  going  to  "see  life,"  meaning  by  that 
that  he  is  going  to  see  that  part  of  life  which  it  is  a 
thousand-fold  better  should  remain  unseen !  I  ask  that 
every  man  here  constitute  himself  his  brother's  keeper  by 
setting  an  example  to  that  younger  brother  which  will 
prevent  him  from  getting  such  a  false  estimate  of  life. 
Example  is  the  most  potent  of  all  things.  If  any  one  of 
you  in  the  presence  of  younger  boys,  and  especially  the 
younger  people  of  your  own  family,  misbehaves  yourself, 
if  you  use  coarse  and  blasphemous  language  before  them, 
you  can  be  sure  that  these  younger  people  will  follow 
your  example  and  not  your  precept.  It  is  no  use  to 
preach  to  them  if  you  do  not  act  decently  yourself.  You 
must  feel  that  the  most  effective  way  in  which  you  can 
preach  is  by  your  practice. 

As  I  was  driving  up  here  a  friend  who  was  with  us  said 
that  in  his  experience  the  boy  who  went  out  into  life  with 
a  foul  tongue  was  apt  so  to  go  because  his  kinsfolk,  at 
least  his  intimate  associates,  themselves  had  foul  tongues. 
The  father,  the  elder  brothers,  the  friends,  can  do  much 
toward  seeing  that  the  boys  as  they  become  men  become 
clean  and  honorable  men. 

I  have  told  you  that  I  wanted  you  not  only  to  be  de 
cent,  but  to  be  strong.  These  boys  will  not  admire  vir 
tue  of  a  merely  anemic  type.  They  believe  in  courage, 
in  manliness.  They  admire  those  who  have  the  quality 
of  being  brave,  the  quality  of  facing  life  as  life  should  be 
faced,  the  quality  that  must  stand  at  the  root  of  good 
citizenship  in  peace  or  in  war.  If  you  are  to  be  effective 
as  good  Christians  you  must  possess  strength  and  cour 
age,  or  your  example  will  count  for  little  with  the  young 


HOLY  NAME  SOCIETY  231 

who  admire  strength  and  courage.  I  want  to  see  you, 
the  men  of  the  Holy  Name  Society,  you  who  embody 
the  qualities  which  the  younger  people  admire,  by  your 
example  give  those  young  people  the  tendency,  the  trend, 
in  the  right  direction ;  and  remember  that  this  example 
counts  in  many  other  ways  besides  cleanliness  of  speech. 
I  want  to  see  every  man  able  to  hold  his  own  with  the 
strong,  and  also  ashamed  to  oppress  the  weak.  I  want 
to  see  each  young  fellow  able  to  do  a  man's  work  in  the 
world,  and  of  a  type  which  will  not  permit  imposition  to 
be  permitted  upon  him.  I  want  to  see  him  too  strong 
of  spirit  to  submit  to  wrong,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
ashamed  to  do  wrong  to  others.  I  want  to  see  each  man 
able  to  hold  his  own  in  the  rough  work  of  actual  life  out 
side,  and  also,  when  he  is  at  home,  a  good  man,  unselfish 
in  dealing  with  wife,  or  mother,  or  children.  Remember 
that  the  preaching  does  not  count  if  it  is  not  backed  up 
by  practice.  There  is  no  good  in  your  preaching  to  your 
boys  to  be  brave,  if  you  run  away.  There  is  no  good  in 
your  preaching  to  them  to  tell  the  truth  if  you  do  not. 
There  is  no  good  in  your  preaching  to  them  to  be  un 
selfish  if  they  see  you  selfish  with  your  wife,  disregardful 
of  others.  We  have  a  right  to  expect  that  you  will  come 
together  in  meetings  like  this;  that  you  will  march  in 
processions;  that  you  will  join  in  building  up  such  a 
great  and  useful  association  as  this;  and  even  more  we 
have  a  right  to  expect  that  in  your  own  homes  and  among 
your  own  associates  you  will  prove  by  your  deeds  that 
yours  is  not  a  lip  loyalty  merely ;  that  you  show  in  actual 
practice  the  faith  that  is  in  you. 


XXXVI 

AT  THE  STATE  FAIR,  SYRACUSE,  N.  Y., 
SEPTEMBER  7,   1903 

Governor  Higgins  ;  my  fellow -citizens  : 

In  speaking  on  Labor  Day  at  the  annual  fair  of  the  New 
York  State  Agricultural  Association,  it  is  natural  to  keep 
especially  in  mind  the  two  bodies  who  compose  the  ma 
jority  of  our  people  and  upon  whose  welfare  depends  the 
welfare  of  the  entire  State.  If  circumstances  are  such 
that  thrift,  energy,  industry,  and  forethought  enable  the 
farmer,  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
wage  worker,  on  the  other,  to  keep  themselves,  their 
wives,  and  their  children  in  reasonable  comfort,  then  the 
State  is  well  off,  and  we  can  be  assured  that  the  other 
classes  in  the  community  will  likewise  prosper.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  there  is  in  the  long  run  a  lack  of  prosperity 
among  the  two  classes  named,  then  all  other  prosperity 
is  sure  to  be  more  seeming  than  real.  It  has  been  our  pro 
found  good  fortune  as  a  nation  that  hitherto,  disregarding 
exceptional  periods  of  depression  and  the  normal  and  in 
evitable  fluctuations,  there  has  been,  on  the  whole,  from 
the  beginning  of  our  Government  to  the  present  day  a 
progressive  betterment  alike  in  the  condition  of  the  tiller 
of  the  soil  and  in  the  condition  of  the  man  who,  by  his 
manual  skill  and  labor,  supports  himself  and  his  family, 
and  endeavors  to  bring  up  his  children  so  that  they  may 
be  at  least  as  well  off  as,  and  if  possible  better  off  than, 
he  himself  has  been.  There  are,  of  course,  exceptions, 

232 


NEW  YORK  STATE  FAIR  233 

but  as  a  whole  the  standard  of  living  among  the  farmers 
of  our  country  has  risen  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  the  wealth  represented  on  the  farms  has  steadily 
increased,  while  the  wages  of  labor  have  likewise  risen, 
both  as  regards  the  actual  money  paid  and  as  regards  the 
purchasing  power  which  that  money  represents. 

Side  by  side  with  this  increase  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
wage  worker  and  the  tiller  of  the  soil  has  gone  on  a  great 
increase  in  prosperity  among  the  business  men  and 
among  certain  classes  of  professional  men ;  and  the  pros 
perity  of  these  men  has  been  partly  the  cause  and  partly 
the  consequence  of  the  prosperity  of  farmer  and  wage 
worker.  It  can  not  be  too  often  repeated  that  in  this 
country,  in  the  long  run,  we  all  of  us  tend  to  go  up  or  go 
down  together.  If  the  average  of  well-being  is  high,  it 
means  that  the  average  wage  worker,  the  average  farmer, 
and  the  average  business  man  are  all  alike  well  off.  If 
the  average  shrinks,  there  is  not  one  of  these  classes 
which  will  not  feel  the  shrinkage.  Of  course  there  are 
always  some  men  who  are  not  affected  by  good  times, 
just  as  there  are  some  men  who  are  not  affected  by  bad 
times.  But  speaking  broadly,  it  is  true  that  if  prosperity 
comes  all  of  us  tend  to  share  more  or  less  therein,  and 
that  if  adversity  comes  each  of  us,  to  a  greater  or  less  ex 
tent,  feels  the  tension.  Unfortunately,  in  this  world  the 
innocent  frequently  find  themselves  obliged  to  pay  some 
of  the  penalty  for  the  misdeeds  of  the  guilty ;  and  so  if 
hard  times  come,  whether  they  be  due  to  our  own  fault 
or  to  our  misfortune;  whether  they  be  due  to  some  burst 
of  speculative  frenzy  that  has  caused  a  portion  of  the 
business  world  to  lose  its  head — a  loss  which  no  legisla 
tion  can  possibly  supply ;  or  whether  they  be  due  to  any 
lack  of  wisdom  in  a  portion  of  the  world  of  labor — in  each 
case  the  trouble  once  started  is  felt  more  or  less  in  every 
walk  of  life. 

It   is  all-essential  to  the  continuance  of  our  healthy 


234  ADDRESSES 

national  life  that  we  should  recognize  this  community  of 
interest  among  our  people.  The  welfare  of  each  of  us  is 
dependent  fundamentally  upon  the  welfare  of  all  of  us, 
and  therefore  in  public  life  that  man  is  the  best  represen 
tative  of  each  of  us  who  seeks  to  do  good  to  each  by  do 
ing  good  to  all ;  in  other  words,  whose  endeavor  it  is,  not 
to  represent  any  special  class  and  promote  merely  that 
class's  selfish  interests,  but  to  represent  all  true  and 
honest  men  of  all  sections  and  all  classes,  and  to  work  for 
their  interests  by  working  for  our  common  country. 

We  can  keep  our  Government  on  a  sane  and  healthy 
basis,  we  can  make  and  keep  our  social  system  what  it 
should  be,  only  on  condition  of  judging  each  man,  not  as 
a  member  of  a  class,  but  on  his  worth  as  a  man.  It  is  an 
infamous  thing  in  our  American  life,  and  fundamentally 
treacherous  to  our  institutions,  to  apply  to  any  man  any 
test  save  that  of  his  personal  worth,  or  to  draw  between 
two  sets  of  men  any  distinction  save  the  distinction  of 
conduct,  the  distinction  that  marks  off  those  who  do  well 
and  wisely  from  those  who  do  ill  and  foolishly.  There 
are  good  citizens  and  bad  citizens  in  every  class  as  in 
every  locality,  and  the  attitude  of  decent  people  toward 
great  public  and  social  questions  should  be  determined, 
not  by  the  accidental  questions  of  employment  or  locality, 
but  by  those  deep-set  principles  which  represent  the  in 
nermost  souls  of  men. 

The  failure  in  public  and  in  private  life  thus  to  treat 
each  man  on  his  own  merits,  the  recognition  of  this  Gov 
ernment  as  being  either  for  the  poor  as  such  or  for  the 
rich  as  such,  would  prove  fatal  to  our  Republic,  as  such 
failure  and  such  recognition  have  always  proved  fatal  in 
the  past  to  other  republics.  A  healthy  republican  gov 
ernment  must  rest  upon  individuals,  not  upon  classes  or 
sections.  As  soon  as  it  becomes  government  by  a  class 
or  by  a  section  it  departs  from  the  old  American  ideal. 

It  is,  of  course,  the  merest  truism  to  say  that  free  in- 


NEW  YORK  STATE  FAIR  235 

stitutions  are  of  avail  only  to  people  who  possess  the  high 
and  peculiar  characteristics  needed  to  take  advantage  of 
such  institutions.  The  century  that  has  just  closed  has 
witnessed  many  and  lamentable  instances  in  which  people 
have  seized  a  government  free  in  form,  or  have  had  it  be 
stowed  upon  them,  and  yet  have  permitted  it  under  the 
forms  of  liberty  to  become  some  species  of  despotism  or 
anarchy,  because  they  did  not  have  in  them  the  power  to 
make  this  seeming  liberty  one  of  deed  instead  of  one 
merely  of  word.  Under  such  circumstances  the  seeming 
liberty  may  be  supplanted  by  a  tyranny  or  despotism  in 
the  first  place,  or  it  may  reach  the  road  of  despotism  by 
the  path  of  license  and  anarchy.  It  matters  but  little 
which  road  is  taken.  In  either  case  the  same  goal  is 
reached.  People  show  themselves  just  as  unfit  for  liberty 
whether  they  submit  to  anarchy  or  to  tyranny;  and  class 
government,  whether  it  be  the  government  of  a  plutocracy 
or  the  government  of  a  mob,  is  equally  incompatible  with 
the  principles  established  in  the  days  of  Washington  and 
perpetuated  in  the  days  of  Lincoln. 

Many  qualities  are  needed  by  a  people  which  would 
preserve  the  power  of  self-government  in  fact  as  well  as 
in  name.  Among  these  qualities  are  forethought,  shrewd 
ness,  self-restraint,  the  courage  which  refuses  to  abandon 
one's  own  rights,  and  the  disinterested  and  kindly  good 
sense  which  enables  one  to  do  justice  to  the  rights  of 
others.  Lack  of  strength  and  lack  of  courage  unfit  men 
for  self-government  on  the  one  hand ;  and  on  the  other, 
brutal  arrogance,  envy, — in  short,  any  manifestation  of 
the  spirit  of  selfish  disregard,  whether  of  one's  own  duties 
or  of  the  rights  of  others,  are  equally  fatal. 

In  the  history  of  mankind  many  republics  have  risen, 
have  flourished  for  a  less  or  greater  time,  and  then  have 
fallen  because  their  citizens  lost  the  power  of  governing 
themselves  and  thereby  of  governing  their  state ;  and  in 
no  way  has  this  loss  of  power  been  so  often  and  so  clearly 


236  ADDRESSES 

shown  as  in  the  tendency  to  turn  the  Government  into  a 
government  primarily  for  the  benefit  of  one  class  instead 
of  a  government  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  as  a  whole. 

Again  and  again  in  the  republics  of  ancient  Greece, 
in  those  of  mediaeval  Italy  and  mediaeval  Flanders,  this 
tendency  was  shown,  and  wherever  the  tendency  became 
a  habit  it  invariably  and  inevitably  proved  fatal  to  the 
State.  In  the  final  result  it  mattered  not  one  whit 
whether  the  movement  was  in  favor  of  one  class  or  of  an 
other.  The  outcome  was  equally  fatal,  whether  the 
country  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  wealthy  oligarchy  which 
exploited  the  poor  or  whether  it  fell  under  the  domina 
tion  of  a  turbulent  mob  which  plundered  the  rich.  In 
both  cases  there  resulted  violent  alternations  between 
tyranny  and  disorder,  and  a  final  complete  loss  of  liberty 
to  all  citizens — destruction  in  the  end  overtaking  the  class 
which  had  for  the  moment  been  victorious,  as  well  as  that 
which  had  momentarily  been  defeated.  The  death-knell 
of  the  Republic  had  rung  as  soon  as  the  active  power  be 
came  lodged  in  the  hands  of  those  who  sought,  not  to  do 
justice  to  all  citizens,  rich  and  poor  alike,  but  to  stand  for 
one  special  class  and  for  its  interests  as  opposed  to  the 
interests  of  others. 

The  reason  why  our  future  is  assured  lies  in  the  fact 
that  our  people  are  genuinely  skilled  in  and  fitted  for 
self-government  and  therefore  will  spurn  the  leadership 
of  those  who  seek  to  excite  this  ferocious  and  foolish 
class  antagonism.  The  average  American  knows  not  only 
that  he  himself  intends  to  do  about  what  is  right,  but 
that  his  average  fellow-countryman  has  the  same  inten 
tion  and  the  same  power  to  make  his  intention  effective. 
He  knows,  whether  he  be  business  man,  professional  man, 
farmer,  mechanic,  employer,  or  wage  worker,  that  the 
welfare  of  each  of  these  men  is  bound  up  with  the  welfare 
of  all  the  others ;  that  each  is  neighbor  to  the  other,  is 
actuated  by  the  same  hopes  and  fears,  has  fundamentally 


NEW  YORK  STATE  FAIR  237 

the  same  ideals,  and  that  all  alike  have  much  the  same 
virtues  and  the  same  faults.  Our  average  fellow-citizen 
is  a  sane  and  healthy  man,  who  believes  in  decency  and 
has  a  wholesome  mind.  He  therefore  feels  an  equal  scorn 
alike  for  the  man  of  wealth  guilty  of  the  mean  and  base 
spirit  of  arrogance  toward  those  who  are  less  well  off,  and 
for  the  man  of  small  means  who  in  his  turn  either  feels 
or  seeks  to  excite  in  others  the  feeling  of  mean  and  base 
envy  for  those  who  are  better  off.  The  two  feelings, 
envy  and  arrogance,  are  but  opposite  sides  of  the  same 
shield,  but  different  developments  of  the  same  spirit. 
Fundamentally,  the  unscrupulous  rich  man  who  seeks  to 
exploit  and  oppress  those  who  are  less  well  off  is  in 
spirit  not  opposed  to,  but  identical  with,  the  unscrupu 
lous  poor  man  who  desires  to  plunder  and  oppress  those 
who  are  better  off.  The  courtier  and  the  demagogue  are 
but  developments  of  the  same  type  under  different  condi 
tions,  each  manifesting  the  same  servile  spirit,  the  same 
desire  to  rise  by  pandering  to  base  passions;  though  one 
panders  to  power  in  the  shape  of  a  single  man  and  the 
other  to  power  in  the  shape  of  a  multitude.  So  likewise 
the  man  who  wishes  to  rise  by  wronging  others  must 
by  right  be  contrasted,  not  with  the  man  who  likewise 
wishes  to  do  wrong,  though  to  a  different  set  of  people, 
but  with  the  man  who  wishes  to  do  justice  to  all  people 
and  to  wrong  none. 

The  line  of  cleavage  between  good  and  bad  citizenship 
lies,  not  between  the  man  of  wealth  who  acts  squarely 
by  his  fellows  and  the  man  who  seeks  each  day's  wage  by 
that  day's  work,  wronging  no  one  and  doing  his  duty  by 
his  neighbor;  nor  yet  does  this  line  of  cleavage  divide  the 
unscrupulous  wealthy  man  who  exploits  others  in  his  own 
interest,  from  the  demagogue,  or  from  the  sullen  and  en 
vious  being  who  wishes  to  attack  all  men  of  property, 
whether  they  do  well  or  ill.  On  the  contrary,  the  line  of 
cleavage  between  good  citizenship  and  bad  citizenship 


238  ADDRESSES 

separates  the  rich  man  who  does  well  from  the  rich  man 
who  does  ill,  the  poor  man  of  good  conduct  from  the 
poor  man  of  bad  conduct.  This  line  of  cleavage  lies  at 
right  angles  to  any  such  arbitrary  line  of  division  as  that 
separating  one  class  from  another,  one  locality  from 
another,  or  men  with  a  certain  degree  of  property  from 
those  of  a  less  degree  of  property. 

The  good  citizen  is  the  man  who,  whatever  his  wealth 
or  his  poverty,  strives  manfully  to  do  his  duty  to  himself, 
to  his  family,  to  his  neighbor,  to  the  State;  who  is  in 
capable  of  the  baseness  which  manifests  itself  either  in  ar 
rogance  or  in  envy,  but  who,  while  demanding  justice  for 
himself,  is  no  less  scrupulous  to  do  justice  to  others.  It 
is  because  the  average  American  citizen,  rich  or  poor,  is 
of  just  this  type  that  we  have  cause  for  our  profound 
faith  in  the  future  of  the  Republic. 

Ours  is  a  government  of  liberty,  by,  through,  and  un 
der  the  law.  Lawlessness  and  connivance  at  law-break 
ing — whether  the  law-breaking  take  the  form  of  a  crime 
of  greed  and  cunning  or  of  a  crime  of  violence — are 
destructive  not  only  of  order,  but  of  the  true  liberties 
which  can  only  come  through  order.  If  alive  to  their 
true  interests  rich  and  poor  alike  will  set  their  faces  like 
flint  against  the  spirit  which  seeks  personal  advantage  by 
overriding  the  laws,  without  regard  to  whether  this  spirit 
shows  itself  in  the  form  of  bodily  violence  by  one  set  of 
men  or  in  the  form  of  vulpine  cunning  by  another  set  of 
men. 

Let  the  watchwords  of  all  our  people  be  the  old  familiar 
watchwords  of  honesty,  decency,  fair-dealing,  and  com 
mon-sense.  The  qualities  denoted  by  these  words  are 
essential  to  all  of  us,  as  we  deal  with  the  complex  in 
dustrial  problems  of  to-day,  the  problems  affecting  not 
merely  the  accumulation  but  even  more  the  wise  distri 
bution  of  wealth.  We  ask  no  man's  permission  when  we 
require  him  to  obey  the  law ;  neither  the  permission  of 


NEW  YORK  STATE  FAIR  239 

the  poor  man  nor  yet  of  the  rich  man.  Least  of  all  can 
the  man  of  great  wealth  afford  to  break  the  law,  even  for 
his  own  financial  advantage ;  for  the  law  is  his  prop  and 
support,  and  it  is  both  foolish  and  profoundly  unpatriotic 
for  him  to  fail  in  giving  hearty  support  to  those  who 
show  that  there  is  in  very  fact  one  law,  and  one  law  only, 
alike  for  the  rich  and  the  poor,  for  the  great  and  the 
small. 

Men  sincerely  interested  in  the  due  protection  of  prop 
erty,  and  men  sincerely  interested  in  seeing  that  the  just 
rights  of  labor  are  guaranteed,  should  alike  remember  not 
only  that  in  the  long  run  neither  the  capitalist  nor  the 
wage  worker  can  be  helped  in  healthy  fashion  save  by 
helping  the  other;  but  also  that  to  require  either  side  to 
obey  the  law  and  do  its  full  duty  toward  the  community 
is  emphatically  to  that  side's  real  interest. 

There  is  no  worse  enemy  of  the  wage  worker  than  the 
man  who  condones  mob  violence  in  any  shape  or  who 
preaches  class  hatred ;  and  surely  the  slightest  acquaint 
ance  with  our  industrial  history  should  teach  even  the 
most  shortsighted  that  the  times  of  most  suffering  for 
our  people  as  a  whole,  the  times  when  business  is  stag 
nant,  and  capital  suffers  from  shrinkage  and  gets  no  return 
from  its  investments,  are  exactly  the  times  of  hardship, 
and  want,  and  grim  disaster  among  the  poor.  If  all  the 
existing  instrumentalities  of  wealth  could  be  abolished, 
the  first  and  severest  suffering  would  come  among  those 
of  us  who  are  least  well  off  at  present.  The  wage  worker 
is  well  off  only  when  the  rest  of  the  country  is  well  off; 
and  he  can  best  contribute  to  this  general  well-being  by 
showing  sanity  and  a  firm  purpose  to  do  justice  to 
others. 

In  his  turn  the  capitalist  who  is  really  a  conservative, 
the  man  who  has  forethought  as  well  as  patriotism,  should 
heartily  welcome  every  effort,  legislative  or  otherwise, 
which  has  for  its  object  to  secure  fair  dealing  by  capital, 


240  ADDRESSES 

corporate  or  individual,  toward  the  public  and  toward  the 
employee.  Such  laws  as  the  franchise-tax  law  in  this 
State,  which  the  Court  of  Appeals  recently  unanimously 
decided  constitutional ;  such  a  law  as  that  passed  in  Con 
gress  last  year  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  Depart 
ment  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  under  which  there  should 
be  a  bureau  to  oversee  and  secure  publicity  from  the 
great  corporations  which  do  an  interstate  business ;  such 
a  law  as  that  passed  at  the  same  time  for  the  regulation 
of  the  great  highways  of  commerce  so  as  to  keep  these 
roads  clear  on  fair  terms  to  all  producers  in  getting  their 
goods  to  market — these  laws  are  in  the  interest  not 
merely  of  the  people  as  a  whole,  but  of  the  propertied 
classes.  For  in  no  way  is  the  stability  of  property  better 
assured  than  by  making  it  patent  to  our  people  that 
property  bears  its  proper  share  of  the  burdens  of  the 
State;  that  property  is  handled  not  only  in  the  interest 
of  the  owner,  but  in  the  interest  of  the  whole  community. 

In  other  words,  legislation  to  be  permanently  good  for 
any  class  must  also  be  good  for  the  nation  as  a  whole ; 
and  legislation  which  does  injustice  to  any  class  is  cer 
tain  to  work  harm  to  the  nation.  Take  our  currency  sys 
tem,  for  example.  This  nation  is  on  a  gold  basis.  The 
Treasury  of  the  public  is  in  excellent  condition.  Never 
before  has  the  per  capita  of  circulation  been  as  large  as  it 
is  this  day ;  and  this  circulation,  moreover,  is  of  money, 
every  dollar  of  which  is  at  par  with  gold.  Now,  our 
having  this  sound  currency  system  is  of  benefit  to  banks, 
of  course,  but  it  is  of  infinitely  more  benefit  to  the  peo 
ple  as  a  whole,  because  of  the  healthy  effect  on  business 
conditions. 

In  the  same  way,  whatever  is  advisable  in  the  way  of 
remedial  or  corrective  currency  legislation — and  nothing 
revolutionary  is  advisable  under  present  conditions — must 
be  undertaken  only  from  the  standpoint  of  the  business 
community  as  a  whole,  that  is,  of  the  American  body 


NEW  YORK  STA  TE  FAIR  241 

politic  as  a  whole.  Whatever  is  done,  we  cannot  afford 
to  take  any  step  backward  or  to  cast  any  doubt  upon  the 
certain  redemption  in  standard  coin  of  every  circulating 
note. 

Among  ourselves  we  differ  in  many  qualities,  of  body, 
head,  and  heart ;  we  are  unequally  developed,  mentally  as 
well  as  physically.  But  each  of  us  has  the  right  to  ask 
that  he  shall  be  protected  from  wrongdoing  as  he  does 
his  work  and  carries  his  burden  through  life.  No  man 
needs  sympathy  because  he  has  to  work,  because  he  has 
a  burden  to  carry.  Far  and  away  the  best  prize  that  life 
offers  is  the  chance  to  work  hard  at  work  worth  doing ; 
and  this  is  a  prize  open  to  every  man,  for  there  can  be  no 
work  better  worth  doing  than  that  done  to  keep  in  health 
and  comfort  and  with  reasonable  advantages  those  im 
mediately  dependent  upon  the  husband,  the  father,  or 
the  son. 

There  is  no  room  in  our  healthy  American  life  for  the 
mere  idler,  for  the  man  or  the  woman  whose  object  it  is 
throughout  life  to  shirk  the  duties  which  life  ought  to 
bring.  Life  can  mean  nothing  worth  meaning,  unless  its 
prime  aim  is  the  doing  of  duty,  the  achievement  of  results 
worth  achieving.  A  recent  writer  has  finely  said  :  "After 
all,  the  saddest  thing  that  can  happen  to  a  man  is  to  carry 
no  burdens.  To  be  bent  under  too  great  a  load  is  bad ; 
to  be  crushed  by  it  is  lamentable ;  but  even  in  that  there 
are  possibilities  that  are  glorious.  But  to  carry  no  load 
at  all — there  is  nothing  in  that.  No  one  seems  to  arrive 
at  any  goal  really  worth  reaching  in  this  world  who  does 
not  come  to  it  heavy  laden." 

Surely  from  our  own  experience  each  one  of  us  knows 
that  this  is  true.  From  the  greatest  to  the  smallest,  hap 
piness  and  usefulness  are  largely  found  in  the  same  soul, 
and  the  joy  of  life  is  won  in  its  deepest  and  truest  sense 
only  by  those  who  have  not  shirked  life's  burdens.  The 
men  whom  we  most  delight  to  honor  in  all  this  land  are 

16 


242  ADDRESSES 

those  who,  in  the  iron  years  from  '61  to  '65,  bore  on  their 
shoulders  the  burden  of  saving  the  Union.  They  did 
not  choose  the  easy  task.  They  did  not  shirk  the  difficult 
duty.  Deliberately  and  of  their  own  free  will  they  strove 
for  an  ideal,  upward  and  onward  across  the  stony  slopes 
of  greatness.  They  did  the  hardest  work  that  was  then 
to  be  done ;  they  bore  the  heaviest  burden  that  any  gen 
eration  of  Americans  ever  had  to  bear ;  and  because  they 
did  this  they  have  won  such  proud  joy  as  it  has  fallen  to 
the  lot  of  no  other  men  to  win,  and  have  written  their 
names  forevermore  on  the  golden  honor  roll  of  the  nation. 
As  it  is  with  the  soldier,  so  it  is  with  the  civilian.  To  win 
success  in  the  business  world,  to  become  a  first-class 
mechanic,  a  successful  farmer,  an  able  lawyer  or  doctor, 
means  that  the  man  has  devoted  his  best  energy  and 
power  through  long  years  to  the  achievement  of  his  ends. 
So  it  is  in  the  life  of  the  family,  upon  which  in  the  last 
analysis  the  whole  welfare  of  the  nation  rests.  The  man 
or  woman  who  as  bread-winner  and  home-maker,  or  as 
wife  and  mother,  has  done  all  that  he  or  she  can  do,  pa 
tiently  and  uncomplainingly,  is  to  be  honored;  and  is  to 
be  envied  by  all  those  who  have  never  had  the  good  for 
tune  to  feel  the  need  and  duty  of  doing  such  work.  The 
woman  who  has  borne,  and  who  has  reared  as  they 
should  be  reared,  a  family  of  children,  has  in  the  most 
emphatic  manner  deserved  well  of  the  Republic.  Her 
burden  has  been  heavy,  and  she  has  been  able  to  bear  it 
worthily  only  by  the  possession  of  resolution,  of  good 
sense,  of  conscience,  and  of  unselfishness.  But  if  she  has 
borne  it  well,  then  to  her  shall  come  the  supreme  bless 
ing,  for  in  the  words  of  the  oldest  and  greatest  of  books, 
"Her  children  shall  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed";  and 
among  the  benefactors  of  the  land  her  place  must  be  with 
those  who  have  done  the  best  and  the  hardest  work 
whether  as  lawgivers  or  as  soldiers,  whether  in  public  or 
in  private  life. 


NEW  YORK  STATE  FAIR  243 

This  is  not  a  soft  and  easy  creed  to  preach.  It  is  a 
creed  willingly  learned  only  by  men  and  women  who, 
together  with  the  softer  virtues,  possess  also  the  stronger; 
who  can  do,  and  dare,  and  die  at  need,  but  who  while 
life  lasts  will  never  flinch  from  their  allotted  task.  You 
farmers,  and  wage  workers,  and  business  men  of  this 
great  State,  of  this  mighty  and  wonderful  nation,  are 
gathered  together  to-day,  proud  of  your  State  and  still 
prouder  of  your  Nation,  because  your  forefathers  and 
predecessors  have  lived  up  to  just  this  creed.  You  have 
received  from  their  hands  a  great  inheritance,  and  you 
will  leave  an  even  greater  inheritance  to  your  children  and 
your  children's  children,  provided  only  that  you  practise 
alike  in  your  private  and  your  public  lives  the  strong 
virtues  that  have  given  us  as  a  people  greatness  in  the 
past.  It  is  not  enough  to  be  well-meaning  and  kindly, 
but  weak;  neither  is  it  enough  to  be  strong,  unless  mo 
rality  and  decency  go  hand  in  hand  with  strength.  We 
must  possess  the  qualities  which  make  us  do  our  duty  in 
our  homes  and  among  our  neighbors,  and  in  addition  we 
must  possess  the  qualities  which  are  indispensable  to  the 
makeup  of  every  great  and  masterful  nation — the  quali 
ties  of  courage  and  hardihood,  of  individual  initiative  and 
yet  of  power  to  combine  for  a  common  end,  and,  above 
all,  the  resolute  determination  to  permit  no  man  and  no 
set  of  men  to  sunder  us  one  from  the  other  by  lines  of 
caste  or  creed  or  section.  We  must  act  upon  the  motto 
of  all  for  each  and  each  for  all.  There  must  be  ever 
present  in  our  minds  the  fundamental  truth  that  in  a  re 
public  such  as  ours  the  only  safety  is  to  stand  neither  for 
nor  against  any  man  because  he  is  rich  or  because  he  is 
poor,  because  he  is  engaged  in  one  occupation  or  another, 
because  he  works  with  his  brains  or  because  he  works  with 
his  hands.  We  must  treat  each  man  on  his  worth  and 
merits  as  a  man.  We  must  see  that  each  is  given  a  square 
deal,  because  he  is  entitled  to  no  more  and  should  receive 


244  ADDRESSES 

no  less.  Finally  we  must  keep  ever  in  mind  that  a  re 
public  such  as  ours  can  exist  only  by  virtue  of  the  orderly 
liberty  which  comes  through  the  equal  domination  of  the 
law  over  all  men  alike,  and  through  its  administration  in 
such  resolute  and  fearless  fashion  as  shall  teach  all  that 
no  man  is  above  it  and  no  man  below  it. 


XXXVII 

AT  ANTIETAM,  SEPTEMBER  17,   1903 

Governor  Murphy,  Veterans  of  New  Jersey,  men  of  the 
Grand  A  rmy: 

I  thank  you  of  New  Jersey  for  the  monument  to  the 
troops  of  New  Jersey  who  fought  at  Antietam,  and  on 
behalf  of  the  nation  I  accept  the  gift.  We  meet  to-day 
upon  one  of  the  great  battlefields  of  the  Civil  War.  No 
other  battle  of  the  Civil  War  lasting  but  one  day  shows 
as  great  a  percentage  of  loss  as  that  which  occurred  here 
upon  the  day  on  which  Antietam  was  fought.  Moreover, 
in  its  ultimate  effects  this  battle  was  of  momentous  and 
even  decisive  importance ;  for  when  it  had  ended  and  Lee 
had  retreated  south  of  the  Potomac,  Lincoln  forthwith 
published  that  immortal  paper,  the  preliminary  declara 
tion  of  emancipation ;  the  paper  which  decided  that  the 
Civil  War,  besides  being  a  war  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  should  be  a  war  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slave, 
so  that  from  that  time  onward  the  causes  of  Union  and 
of  Freedom,  of  national  greatness  and  individual  liberty, 
were  one  and  the  same. 

Men  of  New  Jersey,  I  congratulate  your  State  because 
she  has  a  right  to  claim  her  full  share  in  the  honor  and 
glory  of  that  memorable  day;  and  I  congratulate  you, 
Governor  Murphy,  because  on  that  day  you  had  the  high 
good  fortune  to  serve  as  a  lad  with  credit  and  honor  in 
one  of  the  five  regiments  which  your  State  sent  to  the 
battle.  Four  of  those  regiments,  by  the  way,  served  in 

245 


246  ADDRESSES 

the  division  commanded  by  that  gallant  soldier,  Henry 
W.  Slocum,  whom  we  of  New  York  can  claim  as  our 
own.  The  other  regiment,  that  in  which  Governor  Mur 
phy  served,  although  practically  an  entirely  new  regiment, 
did  work  as  good  as  that  of  any  veteran  organization 
upon  the  field,  and  suffered  a  proportional  loss.  This 
regiment  was  at  one  time  ordered  to  the  support  of  a 
division  commanded  by  another  New  York  soldier,  the 
gallant  General  Greene,  whose  son  himself  served  as  a 
major-general  in  the  war  with  Spain  and  is  now,  as  Police 
Commissioner  of  New  York,  rendering  as  signal  service 
in  civil  life  as  he  had  already  rendered  in  military  life. 

If  the  issue  of  Antietam  had  been  other  than  it  was, 
it  is  probable  that  at  least  two  great  European  powers 
would  have  recognized  the  independence  of  the  Confed 
eracy  ;  so  that  you  who  fought  here  forty-one  years  ago 
have  the  profound  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  you  played 
well  your  part  in  one  of  those  crises  big  with  the  fate  of 
all  mankind.  You  men  of  the  Grand  Army  by  your  vic 
tory  not  only  rendered  all  Americans  your  debtors  for- 
evermore,  but  you  rendered  all  humanity  your  debtors. 
If  the  Union  had  been  dissolved,  if  the  great  edifice  built 
with  blood  and  sweat  and  tears  by  mighty  Washington 
and  his  compeers  had  gone  down  in  wreck  and  ruin,  the 
result  would  have  been  an  incalculable  calamity,  not  only 
for  our  people — and  most  of  all  for  those  who,  in  such 
event  would  have  seemingly  triumphed — but  for  all  man 
kind.  The  great  American  Republic  would  have  become 
a  memory  of  derision ;  and  the  failure  of  the  experiment 
of  self-government  by  a  great  people  on  a  great  scale 
would  have  delighted  the  heart  of  every  foe  of  republican 
institutions.  Our  country,  now  so  great  and  so  wonder 
ful,  would  have  been  split  into  little  jangling  rival  nation- 
alitics,  each  with  a  history  both  bloody  and  contemptible. 
It  was  because  you,  the  men  who  wear  the  button  of  the 
Grand  Army,  triumphed  in  those  dark  years,  that  every 


ANTIETAM  247 

American  now  holds  his  head  high,  proud  in  the  knowl 
edge  that  he  belongs  to  a  nation  whose  glorious  past  and 
great  present  will  be  succeeded  by  an  even  mightier  fu 
ture;  whereas  had  you  failed  we  would  all  of  us,  North 
and  South,  East  and  West,  be  now  treated  by  other 
nations  at  the  best  with  contemptuous  tolerance ;  at  the 
worst  with  overbearing  insolence. 

Moreover,  every  friend  of  liberty,  every  believer  in 
self-government,  every  idealist  who  wished  to  see  his 
ideals  take  practical  shape,  wherever  he  might  be  in  the 
world,  knew  that  the  success  of  all  in  which  he  most  be 
lieved  was  bound  up  with  the  success  of  the  Union  armies 
in  this  great  struggle.  I  confidently  predict  that  when 
the  final  judgment  of  history  is  recorded  it  will  be  said 
that  in  no  other  war  of  which  we  have  written  record  was 
it  more  vitally  essential  for  the  welfare  of  mankind  that 
victory  should  rest  where  it  finally  rested.  There  have 
been  other  wars  for  individual  freedom.  There  have  been 
other  wars  for  national  greatness.  But  there  has  never 
been  another  war  in  which  the  issues  at  stake  were  so 
large,  looked  at  from  either  standpoint.  We  take  just 
pride  in  the  great  deeds  of  the  men  of  1776,  but  we  must 
keep  in  mind  that  the  Revolutionary  War  would  have 
been  shorn  of  well-nigh  all  its  results  had  the  side  of 
union  and  liberty  been  defeated  in  the  Civil  War.  In 
such  case  we  should  merely  have  added  another  to  the 
lamentably  long  list  of  cases  in  which  peoples  have  shown 
that  after  winning  their  liberty  they  are  wholly  unable  to 
make  good  use  of  it. 

It  now  rests  with  us  in  civil  life  to  make  good  by  our 
deeds  the  deeds  which  you  who  wore  the  blue  did  in  the 
great  years  from  '61  to  '65.  The  patriotism,  the  cour 
age,  the  unflinching  resolution,  and  steadfast  endurance 
of  the  soldiers  whose  triumph  was  crowned  at  Appomat- 
tox  must  be  supplemented  on  our  part  by  civic  courage, 
civic  honesty,  cool  sanity,  and  steadfast  adherence  to  the 


248  ADDRESSES 

immutable  laws  of  righteousness.  You  left  us  a  reunited 
country ;  reunited  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  You  left  us 
the  right  of  brotherhood  with  your  gallant  foes  who  wore 
the  gray ;  the  right  to  feel  pride  in  their  courage  and  their 
high  fealty  to  an  ideal,  even  though  they  warred  against 
the  stars  in  their  courses.  You  left  us  also  the  most 
splendid  example  of  what  brotherhood  really  means ;  for 
in  your  careers  you  showed  in  practical  fashion  that  the 
only  safety  in  our  American  life  lies  in  spurning  the  acci 
dental  distinctions  which  sunder  one  man  from  another, 
and  in  paying  homage  to  each  man  only  because  of  what 
he  essentially  is;  in  stripping  off  the  husks  of  occupation, 
of  position,  of  accident,  until  the  soul  stands  forth  re 
vealed,  and  we  know  the  man  only  because  of  his  worth 
as  a  man. 

There  was  no  patent  device  for  securing  victory  by 
force  of  arms  forty  years  ago ;  and  there  is  no  patent  de 
vice  for  securing  victory  for  the  forces  of  righteousness  in 
civil  life  now.  In  each  case  the  all-important  factor  was 
and  is  the  character  of  the  individual  man.  Good  laws  in 
the  State,  like  a  good  organization  in  an  army,  are  the 
expressions  of  national  character.  Leaders  will  be  devel 
oped  in  military  and  in  civil  life  alike ;  and  weapons  and 
tactics  change  from  generation  to  generation,  as  methods 
of  achieving  good  government  change  in  civic  affairs ;  but 
the  fundamental  qualities  which  make  for  good  citizenship 
do  not  change  any  more  than  the  fundamental  qualities 
which  make  good  soldiers.  In  the  long  run  in  the  Civil 
War  the  thing  that  counted  for  more  than  aught  else  was 
the  fact  that  the  average  American  had  the  fighting  edge ; 
had  within  him  the  spirit  which  spurred  him  on  through 
toil  and  danger,  fatigue  and  hardship,  to  the  goal  of  the 
splendid  ultimate  triumph.  So  in  achieving  good  gov 
ernment  the  fundamental  factor  must  be  the  character  of 
the  average  citizen  ;  that  average  citizen's  power  of  hatred 
for  what  is  mean  and  base  and  unlovely ;  his  fearless  scorn 


ANTIETAM  249 

of  cowardice,  and  his  determination  to  war  unyieldingly 
against  the  dark  and  sordid  forces  of  evil. 

The  Continental  troops  who  followed  Washington  were 
clad  in  blue  and  buff,  and  were  armed  with  clumsy,  flint 
lock  muskets.  You,  who  followed  Grant,  wore  the  fa 
mous  old  blue  uniform,  and  your  weapons  had  changed 
as  had  your  uniform ;  and  now  the  men  of  the  American 
Army  who  uphold  the  honor  of  the  flag  in  the  far  tropic 
lands  are  yet  differently  armed  and  differently  clad  and 
differently  trained ;  but  the  spirit  that  has  driven  you  all 
to  victory  has  remained  forever  unchanged.  So  it  is  in 
civil  life.  As  you  did  not  win  in  a  month  or  a  year,  but 
only  after  long  years  of  hard  and  dangerous  work,  so  the 
fight  for  governmental  honesty  and  efficiency  can  be  won 
only  by  the  display  of  similar  patience  and  similar  resolu 
tion  and  power  of  endurance.  We  need  the  same  type 
of  character  now  that  was  needed  by  the  men  who  with 
Washington  first  inaugurated  the  system  of  free  popular 
government,  the  system  of  combined  liberty  and  order 
here  on  this  continent;  that  was  needed  by  the  men 
who  under  Lincoln  perpetuated  the  government  which  had 
thus  been  inaugurated  in  the  days  of  Washington.  The 
qualities  essential  to  good  citizenship  and  to  good  public 
service  now  are  in  all  their  essentials  exactly  the  same  as 
in  the  days  when  the  first  Congresses  met  to  provide  for 
the  establishment  of  the  Union ;  as  in  the  days,  seventy 
years  later,  when  the  Congresses  met  which  had  to  pro 
vide  for  its  salvation. 

There  are  many  qualities  which  we  need  alike  in  private 
citizen  and  in  public  man,  but  three  above  all, — three  for 
the  lack  of  which  no  brilliancy  and  no  genius  can  atone, — 
and  those  three  are  courage,  honesty,  and  common  sense. 


XXXVIII 

AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  SHERMAN  STATUE, 
WASHINGTON,  OCTOBER  15,   1903 

General  Dodge,  Veterans  of  the  Four  Great  Armies,  and 

you,  my  fellow -citizens  : 

To-day  we  meet  together  to  do  honor  to  the  memory 
of  one  of  the  great  men  whom,  in  the  hour  of  her  agony, 
our  nation  brought  forth  for  her  preservation.  The  Civil 
War  was,  not  only  in  the  importance  of  the  issues  at  stake 
and  of  the  outcome  the  greatest  of  modern  times,  but  it 
was  also,  taking  into  account  its  duration,  the  severity 
of  the  fighting,  and  the  size  of  the  armies  engaged,  the 
greatest  since  the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  struggles. 
Among  the  generals  who  rose  to  high  position  as  leaders 
of  the  various  armies  in  the  field  are  many  who  will  be 
remembered  in  our  history  as  long  as  this  history  itself  is 
remembered.  Sheridan,  the  incarnation  of  fiery  energy 
and  prowess;  Thomas,  far-sighted,  cool-headed,  whose 
steadfast  courage  burned  ever  highest  in  the  supreme 
moment  of  the  crisis;  McClellan,  with  his  extraordinary 
gift  for  organization  ;  Meade,  victor  in  one  of  the  decisive 
battles  of  all  time;  Hancock,  type  of  the  true  fighting 
man  among  the  regulars ;  Logan,  type  of  the  true  fight 
ing  man  among  the  volunteers  —  the  names  of  these  and 
of  many  others  will  endure  so  long  as  our  people  hold 
sacred  the  memory  of  the  fight  for  union  and  for  liberty. 
High  among  these  chiefs  rise  the  figures  of  Grant  and  of 

250 


THE  SHERMA N  STA  TUE  25 1 

Grant's  great  lieutenant,  Sherman,  whose  statue  here  in 
the  national  capital  is  to-day  to  be  unveiled.  It  is  not 
necessary  here  to  go  over  the  long  roll  of  Sherman's 
mighty  feats.  They  are  written  large  throughout  the  his 
tory  of  the  Civil  War.  Our  memories  would  be  poor 
indeed  if  we  did  not  recall  them  now,  as  we  look  along 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  and  think  of  the  great  triumphal 
march  which  surged  down  its  length  when  at  the  close 
of  the  war  the  victorious  armies  of  the  East  and  of  the 
West  met  here  in  the  capital  of  the  nation  they  had 
saved. 

There  is  a  peculiar  fitness  in  commemorating  the  great 
deeds  of  the  soldiers  who  preserved  this  nation,  by  suit 
able  monuments  at  the  national  capital.  I  trust  we  shall 
soon  have  a  proper  statue  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  to  whom 
more  than  to  any  other  one  man  this  nation  owes  its  sal 
vation.  Meanwhile,  on  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  nation, 
I  wish  to  congratulate  all  of  you  who  have  been  instru 
mental  in  securing  the  erection  of  this  statue  to  General 
Sherman. 

The  living  can  best  show  their  respect  for  the  memory 
of  the  great  dead  by  the  way  in  which  they  take  to  heart 
and  act  upon  the  lessons  taught  by  the  lives  which  made 
these  dead  men  great.  Our  homage  to-day  to  the  mem 
ory  of  Sherman  comes  from  the  depths  of  our  being. 
We  would  be  unworthy  citizens  did  we  not  feel  profound 
gratitude  toward  him,  and  those  like  him  and  under  him, 
who,  when  the  country  called  in  her  dire  need,  sprang 
forward  with  such  gallant  eagerness  to  answer  that  call. 
Their  blood  and  their  toil,  their  endurance  and  patriotism, 
have  made  us  and  all  who  come  after  us  forever  their 
debtors.  They  left  us  not  merely  a  reunited  country, 
but  a  country  incalculably  greater  because  of  its  rich  heri 
tage  in  the  deeds  which  thus  left  it  reunited.  As  a  nation 
we  are  the  greater,  not  only  for  the  valor  and  devotion 
to  duty  displayed  by  the  men  in  blue,  who  won  in  the 


252  ADDRESSES 

great  struggle  for  the  Union,  but  also  for  the  valor  and 
the  loyalty  toward  what  they  regarded  as  right  of  the 
men  in  gray;  for  this  war,  thrice  fortunate  above  all 
other  recent  wars  in  its  outcome,  left  to  all  of  us  the 
right  of  brotherhood  alike  with  valiant  victor  and  valiant 
vanquished. 

Moreover,  our  homage  must  not  only  find  expression 
on  our  lips;  it  must  also  show  itself  forth  in  our  deeds. 
It  is  a  great  and  glorious  thing  for  a  nation  to  be  stirred 
to  present  triumph  by  the  splendid  memories  of  triumphs 
in  the  past.  But  it  is  a  shameful  thing  for  a  nation,  if 
these  memories  stir  it  only  to  empty  boastings,  to  a  pride 
that  does  not  shrink  from  present  abasement,  to  that  self- 
satisfaction  which  accepts  the  high  resolve  and  unbend 
ing  effort  of  the  father  as  an  excuse  for  effortless  ease  or 
wrongly  directed  effort  in  the  son.  We  of  the  present, 
if  we  are  true  to  the  past,  must  show  by  our  lives  that  we 
have  learned  aright  the  lessons  taught  by  the  men  who 
did  the  mighty  deeds  of  the  past.  We  must  have  in  us 
the  spirit  which  made  the  men  of  the  Civil  War  what  they 
were ;  the  spirit  which  produced  leaders  such  as  Sherman ; 
the  spirit  which  gave  to  the  average  soldier  the  grim  ten 
acity  and  resourcefulness  that  made  the  armies  of  Grant 
and  Sherman  as  formidable  fighting  machines  as  this 
world  has  ever  seen.  We  need  their  ruggedness  of  body, 
their  keen  and  vigorous  minds,  and,  above  all,  their  domi 
nant  quality  of  forceful  character.  Their  lives  teach  us 
in  our  own  lives  to  strive  after,  not  the  thing  which  is 
merely  pleasant,  but  the  thing  which  it  is  our  duty  to  do. 
The  life  of  duty,  not  the  life  of  mere  ease  or  mere  pleas 
ure — that  is  the  kind  of  life  which  makes  the  great  man, 
as  it  makes  the  great  nation. 

We  cannot  afford  to  lose  the  virtues  which  made  the 
men  of  '61  to  '65  great  in  war.  No  man  is  warranted  in 
feeling  pride  in  the  deeds  of  the  army  and  the  navy  of  the 
past  if  he  does  not  back  up  the  army  and  the  navy  of 


THE  SHERMA  N  STA  TUE  2  5  3 

the  present.  If  we  are  farsighted  in  our  patriotism,  there 
will  be  no  let-up  in  the  work  of  building,  and  of  keeping 
at  the  highest  point  of  efficiency,  a  navy  suited  to  the 
part  the  United  States  must  hereafter  play  in  the  world, 
and  of  making  and  keeping  our  small  regular  army, 
which  in  the  event  of  a  great  war  can  never  be  anything 
but  the  nucleus  around  which  our  volunteer  armies  must 
form  themselves,  the  best  army  of  its  size  to  be  found 
among  the  nations. 

So  much  for  our  duties  in  keeping  unstained  the  honor 
roll  our  fathers  made  in  war.  It  is  of  even  more  instant 
need  that  we  should  show  their  spirit  of  patriotism  in 
the  affairs  of  peace.  The  duties  of  peace  are  with  us  al 
ways  ;  those  of  war  are  but  occasional ;  and  with  a  nation 
as  with  a  man,  the  worthiness  of  life  depends  upon  the 
way  in  which  the  everyday  duties  are  done.  The  home 
duties  are  the  vital  duties.  The  nation  is  nothing  but  the 
aggregate  of  the  families  within  its  border;  and  if  the 
average  man  is  not  hard-working,  just,  and  fearless  in  his 
dealings  with  those  about  him,  then  our  average  of  public 
life  will  in  the  end  be  low ;  for  the  stream  can  rise  no 
higher  than  its  source.  But  in  addition  we  need  to  re 
member  that  a  peculiar  responsibility  rests  upon  the  man 
in  public  life.  We  mean  in  the  capital  of  the  nation,  in 
the  city  which  owes  its  existence  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
seat  of  the  National  Government.  It  is  well  for  us  in 
this  place,  and  at  this  time,  to  remember  that  exactly  as 
there  are  certain  homely  qualities  the  lack  of  which  will 
prevent  the  most  brilliant  man  alive  from  being  a  useful 
soldier  to  his  country,  so  there  are  certain  homely  quali 
ties  for  the  lack  of  which  in  the  public  servant  no  shrewd 
ness  or  ability  can  atone.  The  greatest  leaders,  whether 
in  war  or  in  peace,  must  of  course  show  a  peculiar  quality 
of  genius;  but  the  most  redoubtable  armies  that  have 
ever  existed  have  been  redoubtable  because  the  average 

o 

soldier,  the  average  officer,  possessed  to  a  high  degree 


254  ADDRESSES 

such  comparatively  simple  qualities  as  loyalty,  courage, 
and  hardihood.  And  so  the  most  successful  governments 
are  those  in  which  the  average  public  servant  possesses 
that  variant  of  loyalty  which  we  call  patriotism,  together 
with  common  sense  and  honesty.  We  can  as  little  afford 
to  tolerate  a  dishonest  man  in  the  public  service  as  a 
coward  in  the  army.  The  murderer  takes  a  single  life; 
the  corruptionist  in  public  life,  whether  he  be  bribe-giver 
or  bribe-taker,  strikes  at  the  heart  of  the  commonwealth. 
In  every  public  service,  as  in  every  army,  there  will  be 
wrongdoers,  there  will  occur  misdeeds.  This  cannot  be 
avoided  ;  but  vigilant  watch  must  be  kept,  and  as  soon  as 
discovered  the  wrongdoing  must  be  stopped  and  the 
wrongdoers  punished.  Remember  that  in  popular  gov 
ernment  we  must  rely  on  the  people  themselves  alike  for 
the  punishment  and  the  reformation.  Those  upon  whom 
our  institutions  cast  the  initial  duty  of  bringing  malefac 
tors  to  the  bar  of  justice  must  be  diligent  in  its  discharge; 
yet  in  the  last  resort  the  success  of  their  efforts  to  purge 
the  public  service  of  corruption  must  depend  upon  the 
attitude  of  the  courts  and  of  the  juries  drawn  from  the 
people.  Leadership  is  of  avail  only  so  far  as  there  is  wise 
and  resolute  public  sentiment  behind  it. 

In  the  long  run,  then,  it  depends  upon  us  ourselves, 
upon  us,  the  people  as  a  whole,  whether  this  Government 
is  or  is  not  to  stand  in  the  future  as  it  has  stood  in  the 
past ;  and  my  faith  that  it  will  show  no  falling  off  is  based 
upon  my  faith  in  the  character  of  our  average  citizenship. 
The  one  supreme  duty  is  to  try  to  keep  this  average  high. 
To  this  end  it  is  well  to  keep  alive  the  memory  of  those 
men  who  are  fit  to  serve  as  examples  of  what  is  loftiest 
and  best  in  American  citizenship.  Such  a  man  was  Gen 
eral  Sherman.  To  very  few  in  any  generation  is  it  given 
to  render  such  services  as  he  rendered ;  but  each  of  us  in 
his  degree  can  try  to  show  something  of  those  qualities  of 
character  upon  which,  in  their  sum,  the  high  worth  of 


THE  SHERMAN  STA  TUE  255 

Sherman  rested, — his  courage,  his  kindliness,  his  clean 
and  simple  living,  his  sturdy  good  sense,  his  manliness 
and  tenderness  in  the  intimate  relations  of  life,  and 
finally,  his  inflexible  rectitude  of  soul,  and  his  loyalty 
to  all  that  in  this  free  republic  is  hallowed  and  symbolized 
by  the  national  flag. 


XXXIX 

AT  THE  PAN-AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  SERVICE, 
CATHEDRAL  OF  SAINT  PETER  AND  SAINT 
PAUL,  MOUNT  SAINT  ALBAN,  WASHINGTON, 
D.  C.,  OCTOBER  25,  1903 

Bishop  Satterlee,  and  to  you,  representatives  of  the  Church, 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  to  all  of  you,  my  friends 
and  fellow-citizens: 

I  extend  greeting,  and  in  your  name  I  especially  wel 
come  those  who  are  in  a  sense  the  guests  of  the  nation 
to-day.  In  what  I  am  about  to  say  to  you,  I  wish  to 
dwell  upon  certain  thoughts  suggested  by  three  different 
quotations:  In  the  first  place,  "Thou  shalt  serve  the 
Lord  with  all  thy  heart,  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all 
thy  mind" ;  the  next,  "Be  ye  therefore  wise  as  serpents 
and  harmless  as  doves";  and  finally,  in  the  Collect  which 
you,  Bishop  Doane,  just  read,  "  that  we  being  ready, 
both  in  body  and  soul,  may  cheerfully  accomplish  those 
things  which  Thou  commandest." 

To  an  audience  such  as  this  I  do  not  have  to  say  any 
thing  as  to  serving  the  cause  of  decency  with  heart  and 
with  soul.  I  want  to  dwell,  however,  upon  the  fact  that 
we  have  the  right  to  claim  from  you  not  merely  that  you 
shall  have  heart  in  your  work,  not  merely  that  you  shall 
put  your  souls  into  it,  but  that  you  shall  give  the  best 
that  your  minds  have  to  it  also.  In  the  eternal,  the  un 
ending  warfare  for  righteousness  and  against  evil,  the 
friends  of  what  is  good  need  to  remember  that  in  addi- 

256 


MISSION AR  Y  SER VICE  257 

tion  to  being  decent  they  must  be  efficient ;  that  good  in 
tentions,  high  purposes,  cannot  be  in  themselves  effective, 
that  they  are  in  no  sense  a  substitute  for  power  to  make 
those  purposes,  those  intentions  felt  in  action.  Of  course 
we  must  first  have  the  purpose  and  the  intention.  If 
our  powers  are  not  guided  aright,  it  is  better  that  we 
should  not  have  them  at  all ;  but  we  must  have  the  power 
itself  before  we  can  guide  it  aright. 

In  the  second  text  we  are  told  not  merely  to  be  harm 
less  as  doves,  but  also  to  be  wise  as  serpents.  One  of  our 
American  humorists  who  veils  under  jocular  phrases 
much  deep  wisdom — one  of  those  men  has  remarked  that 
it  is  much  easier  to  be  a  harmless  dove  than  a  wise  ser 
pent.  Now,  we  are  not  to  be  excused  if  we  do  not  show 
both  qualities.  It  is  not  very  much  praise  to  give  a  man 
to  say  that  he  is  harmless.  We  have  a  right  to  ask  that 
in  addition  to  the  fact  that  he  does  no  harm  to  anyone 
he  shall  possess  the  wisdom  and  the  strength  to  do  good 
to  his  neighbor;  that  together  with  innocence,  together 
with  purity  of  motive,  shall  be  joined  the  wisdom  and 
strength  to  make  that  purity  effective,  that  motive  trans 
lated  into  substantial  result. 

Finally,  in  the  quotation  from  the  Collect,  we  ask  that 
we  may  be  made  ready  both  in  body  and  in  soul  that  we 
may  cheerfully  accomplish  those  things  that  we  are  com 
manded  to  do.  Ready  both  in  body  and  in  soul :  that 
means  that  we  must  fit  ourselves  physically  and  mentally, 
fit  ourselves  to  work  with  the  weapons  necessary  for  deal 
ing  with  this  life  no  less  than  with  the  higher,  spiritual 
weapons;  fit  ourselves  thus  to  do  the  work  commanded, 
and,  moreover,  to  do  it  cheerfully.  Small  is  our  use  for 
the  man  who  individually  helps  any  of  us  and  shows  that 
he  does  it  grudgingly.  We  would  rather  not  be  helped 
than  be  helped  in  such  fashion.  A  favor  extended  in  a 
manner  which  shows  that  the  man  is  sorry  that  he  has  to 
grant  it  is  robbed,  sometimes  of  all,  and  sometimes  of 


258  ADDRESSES 

more  than  all,  its  benefit.  So,  in  serving  the  Lord,  if  we 
serve  Him,  if  we  serve  the  cause  of  decency,  the  cause  of 
righteousness,  in  a  way  that  impresses  others  with  the  fact 
that  we  are  sad  in  doing  it,  our  service  is  robbed  of  an 
immense  proportion  of  its  efficacy.  We  have  a  right 
to  ask  a  cheerful  heart,  a  right  to  ask  a  buoyant  and 
cheerful  spirit  among  those  to  whom  is  granted  the 
inestimable  privilege  of  doing  the  Lord's  work  in  this 
world.  The  chance  to  do  work,  the  duty  to  do  work, 
is  not  a  penalty,  it  is  a  privilege.  Let  me  quote  a 
sentence  that  I  have  quoted  once  before:  "In  this  life 
the  man  who  wins  to  any  goal  worth  winning  almost 
always  comes  to  that  goal  with  a  burden  bound  on  his 
shoulders."  The  man  who  does  best  in  this  world,  the 
woman  who  does  best,  almost  invariably  does  it  because 
he  or  she  carries  some  burden.  Life  is  so  constituted 
that  the  man  or  the  woman  who  has  not  some  responsi 
bility  is  thereby  deprived  of  the  deepest  happiness  that 
can  come  to  mankind,  because  each  and  every  one  of  us, 
if  he  or  she  is  fit  to  live  in  the  world,  must  be  conscious 
that  responsibility  always  rests  on  him  or  on  her — the 
responsibility  of  duty  toward  those  dependent  upon  us : 
toward  our  families,  toward  our  friends,  toward  our  fel 
low-citizens  ;  the  responsibility  of  duty  to  wife  and  child, 
to  the  State,  to  the  Church.  Not  only  can  no  man  shirk 
some  or  all  of  those  responsibilities,  but  no  man  worth  his 
salt  will  wish  to  shirk  them.  On  the  contrary,  he  will 
welcome,  thrice  over,  the  fortune  that  puts  them  upon 
liim. 

In  closing  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  something 
that  is  especially  my  business  for  the  time  being,  and 
that  is  measurably  your  business  all  the  time,  or  else  you 
are  unfit  to  be  citizens  of  this  republic :  In  the  seventh 
hymn  which  we  sung,  in  the  last  line,  you  all  joined  in 
singing  "God  save  the  State."  Do  you  intend  merely  to 
sing  that,  or  to  try  to  do  it?  If  you  intend  merely  to  sing 


MISSION  A  R  Y  SER  VICE  259 

it,  your  part  in  doing  it  will  be  but  small.  The  State  will 
be  saved  if  the  Lord  puts  it  into  the  heart  of  the  average 
man  so  to  shape  his  life  that  the  State  shall  be  worth  sav 
ing;  and  only  on  those  terms.  We  need  civic  righteous 
ness.  The  best  constitution  that  the  wit  of  man  has  ever 
devised,  the  best  institutions  that  the  ablest  statesmen  in 
the  world  ever  have  reduced  to  practice  by  law  or  by  cus 
tom,  will  be  of  no  avail  if  they  are  not  vivified  by  the 
spirit  which  makes  a  State  great  by  making  its  citizens 
honest,  just,  and  brave.  I  do  not  ask  you  as  practical 
believers  in  applied  Christianity  to  take  part  one  way  or 
the  other  in  matters  that  are  merely  partisan.  There  are 
plenty  of  questions  about  which  honest  men  can  and  do 
differ  very  greatly  and  very  intensely,  but  as  to  which  the 
triumph  of  either  side  may  be  compatible  with  the  welfare 
of  the  State — a  lesser  degree  of  welfare  or  a  greater  degree 
of  welfare — but  compatible  with  the  welfare  of  the  State. 
But  there  are  certain  great  principles,  such  as  those  which 
Cromwell  would  have  called  "fundamentals,"  concerning 
which  no  man  has  a  right  to  have  more  than  one  opinion. 
Such  a  principle  is  honesty.  If  you  have  not  honesty  in 
the  average  private  citizen,  or  public  servant,  then  all  else 
goes  for  nothing.  The  abler  a  man  is,  the  more  dexter 
ous,  the  shrewder,  the  bolder,  why,  the  more  dangerous 
he  is  if  he  has  not  the  root  of  right  living  and  right 
thinking  in  him — and  that  in  private  life,  and  even  more  in 
public  life.  Exactly  as  in  time  of  war,  although  you  need 
in  each  fighting  man  far  more  than  courage,  yet  all  else 
counts  for  nothing  if  there  is  not  that  courage  upon  which 
to  base  it ;  so  in  our  civil  life,  although  we  need  that  the 
average  man  in  private  life,  that  the  average  public  ser 
vant,  shall  have  far  more  than  honesty,  yet  all  other 
qualities  go  for  nothing  or  for  worse  than  nothing  unless 
honesty  underlie  them — not  only  the  honesty  that  keeps 
its  skirts  technically  clear,  but  the  honesty  that  is  such 
according  to  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter  of  the  law ;  the 


2<5o  ADDRESSES 

honesty  that  is  aggressive,  the  honesty  that  noc  merely 
deplores  corruption, — it  is  easy  enough  to  deplore  corrup 
tion, — but  that  wars  against  it  and  tramples  it  under  foot. 
I  ask  for  that  type  of  honesty,  I  ask  for  militant  honesty, 
for  the  honesty  of  the  kind  that  makes  those  who  have  it 
discontented  with  themselves  as  long  as  they  have  failed 
to  do  everything  that  in  them  lies  to  stamp  out  dishon 
esty  wherever  it  can  be  found,  in  high  place  or  in  low. 
And  let  us  not  flatter  ourselves,  we  who  live  in  countries 
where  the  people  rule,  that  it  is  ultimately  possible  for 
the  people  to  cast  upon  any  but  themselves  the  responsi 
bilities  for  the  shape  the  government  and  the  social  and 
political  life  of  the  community  assume.  I  ask,  then, 
that  our  people  feel  quickened  within  them  indignation 
against  wrong  in  every  shape,  and  condemnation  of  that 
wrong,  whether  found  in  private  or  in  public  life.  We 
have  a  right  to  demand  courage  of  every  man  who  wears 
the  uniform ;  it  is  not  so  much  a  credit  to  him  to  have 
it  as  it  is  shame  unutterable  to  him  if  he  lacks  it.  So 
when  we  demand  honesty  we  demand  it  not  as  entitling 
the  possessor  to  praise,  but  as  warranting  the  heartiest 
condemnation  possible  if  he  lacks  it.  Surely  in  every 
movement  for  the  betterment  of  our  life,  our  life  social  in 
the  truest  and  deepest  sense,  our  life  political,  we  have  a 
special  right  to  ask  not  merely  support,  but  leadership 
from  those  of  the  Church.  We  ask  that  you  here  to  whom 
much  has  been  given  will  remember  that  from  you  rightly 
much  will  be  expected  in  return.  For  all  of  us  here  the 
lines  have  been  cast  in  pleasant  places.  Each  of  us  has 
been  given  one  talent,  or  five,  or  ten  talents,  and  each  of 
us  is  in  honor  bound  to  use  that  talent  or  those  talents 
aright,  and  to  show  at  the  end  that  he  is  entitled  to  the 
praise  of  having  done  well  as  a  faithful  servant. 

I  greet  you  this  afternoon,  and  am  glad  to  see  you 
here,  and  I  trust  and  believe  that  after  this  service 
every  one  of  us  will  go  home  feeling  that  he  or  she 


MISSION  A  R  Y  SER  VICE  26 1 

has  been  warranted  in  coming  here  by  the  way  in  which 
he  or  she,  after  going  home,  takes  up  with  fresh  heart, 
with  fresh  courage,  and  with  fresh  and  higher  purpose  the 
burden  of  life  as  that  burden  has  been  given  to  him  or  to 
her  to  carry. 


LETTERS 


263 


WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  October  18,  1902. 

MY  DEAR  MRS.  VAN  VORST  : 

I  must  write  you  a  line  to  say  how  much  I  have  ap 
preciated  your  article,  The  Woman  who  Toils.  But  to  me 
there  is  a  most  melancholy  side  to  it,  when  you  touch 
upon  what  is  fundamentally  infinitely  more  important 
than  any  other  question  in  this  country — that  is,  the 
question  of  race  suicide,  complete  or  partial. 

An  easy,  good-natured  kindliness,  and  a  desire  to  be 
"independent," — that  is,  to  live  one's  life  purely  accord 
ing  to  one's  own  desires, — are  in  no  sense  substitutes  for 
the  fundamental  virtues,  for  the  practice  of  the  strong 
racial  qualities  without  which  there  can  be  no  strong 
races — the  qualities  of  courage  and  resolution  in  both 
men  and  women,  of  scorn  of  what  is  mean,  base,  and 
selfish,  of  eager  desire  to  work  or  fight  or  suffer  as  the 
case  may  be,  provided  the  end  to  be  gained  is  great 
enough,  and  the  contemptuous  putting  aside  of  mere 
ease,  mere  vapid  pleasure,  mere  avoidance  of  toil  and 
worry.  I  do  not  know  whether  I  most  pity  or  despise 
the  foolish  and  selfish  man  or  woman  who  does  not  under 
stand  that  the  only  things  really  worth  having  in  life  are 
those  the  acquirement  of  which  normally  means  cost  and 
effort.  If  a  man  or  woman,  through  no  fault  of  his  or 
hers,  goes  throughout  life  denied  those  highest  of  all  joys 
which  spring  only  from  home  life,  from  the  having  and 
bringing  up  of  many  healthy  children,  I  feel  for  them  deep 
and  respectful  sympathy, — the  sympathy  one  extends 
to  the  gallant  fellow  killed  at  the  beginning  of  a  campaign, 
or  to  the  man  who  toils  hard  and  is  brought  to  ruin  by  the 
fault  of  others.  But  the  man  or  woman  who  deliberately 

265 


266  LETTERS 

avoids  marriage  and  has  a  heart  so  cold  as  to  know  no 
passion  and  a  brain  so  shallow  and  selfish  as  to  dislike 
having  children,  is  in  effect  a  criminal  against  the  race 
and  should  be  an  object  of  contemptuous  abhorrence  by 
all  healthy  people. 

Of  course  no  one  quality  makes  a  good  citizen,  and  no 
one  quality  will  save  a  nation.  But  there  are  certain  great 
qualities  for  the  lack  of  which  no  amount  of  intellectual 
brilliancy  or  of  material  prosperity  or  of  easiness  of  life 
can  atone,  and  the  lack  of  which  shows  decadence  and 
corruption  in  the  nation,  just  as  much  if  they  are  pro 
duced  by  selfishness  and  coldness  and  ease-loving  lazi 
ness  among  comparatively  poor  people  as  if  they  are 
produced  by  vicious  or  frivolous  luxury  in  the  rich.  If 
the  men  of  the  nation  are  not  anxious  to  work  in  many 
different  ways,  with  all  their  might  and  strength,  and 
ready  and  able  to  fight  at  need,  and  anxious  to  be 
fathers  of  families,  and  if  the  women  do  not  recognize 
that  the  greatest  thing  for  any  woman  is  to  be  a  good 
wife  and  mother,  why,  that  nation  has  cause  to  be  alarmed 
about  its  future. 

There  is  no  physical  trouble   among  us  Americans. 
The  trouble  with  the  situation  you  set  forth  is  one  of 
character,  and  therefore  we  can  conquer  it  if  we  only  will. 
Very  sincerely  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 
Mrs.  BESSIE  VAN  VORST, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


(Personal) 

WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  November  26,  1902. 
MY  DEAR  SIR : 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  November  roth  and  of 

one  from  Mr.  under  date  of  November  nth,  in 

reference  to  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Crum  as  Collector 
of  the  Port  of  Charleston. 


LETTERS  267 

In  your  letter  you  make  certain  specific  charges  against 
Dr.  Crum,  tending  to  show  his  unfitness  in  several  re 
spects  for  the  office  sought.  These  charges  are  entitled 
to  the  utmost  consideration  from  me,  and  I  shall  go  over 
them  carefully  before  taking  any  action.  After  making 
these  charges  you  add,  as  a  further  reason  for  opposition 
to  him,  that  he  is  a  colored  man,  and  after  reciting  the 
misdeeds  that  followed  carpet-bag  rule  and  negro  domina 
tion  in  South  Carolina,  you  say  that  "we  have  sworn 
never  again  to  submit  to  the  rule  of  the  African,  and  such 
an  appointment  as  that  of  Dr.  Crum  to  any  such  office 
forces  us  to  protest  unanimously  against  this  insult  to  the 
white  blood";  and  you  add  that  you  understood  me  to 
say  that  I  would  never  force  a  negro  on  such  a  commun 
ity  as  yours.  Mr. puts  the  objection  of  color  first, 

saying:  ''First,  he  is  a  colored  man,  and  that  of  itself 
ought  to  bar  him  from  the  office."  In  view  of  these  last 
statements,  I  think  I  ought  to  make  clear  to  you  why  I 
am  concerned  and  pained  by  your  making  them  and  what 
my  attitude  is  as  regards  all  such  appointments.  How 
any  one  could  have  gained  the  idea  that  I  had  said  I 
would  not  appoint  reputable  and  upright  colored  men  to 
office,  when  objection  was  made  to  them  solely  on  ac 
count  of  their  color,  I  confess  I  am  wholly  unable  to 
understand.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Charleston  last 
spring  I  had  made,  and  since  that  time  I  have  made,  a 
number  of  such  appointments  from  several  States  in 
which  there  is  a  considerable  colored  population.  For 
example,  I  made  one  such  appointment  in  Mississippi, 
and  another  in  Alabama,  shortly  before  my  visit  to 
Charleston.  I  had  at  that  time  appointed  two  colored 
men  as  judicial  magistrates  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
I  have  recently  announced  another  such  appointment  for 
New  Orleans,  and  have  just  made  one  from  Pennsylvania. 
The  great  majority  of  my  appointments  in  every  State 
have  been  of  white  men.  North  and  South  alike  it  has 


268  LETTERS 

been  my  sedulous  endeavor  to  appoint  only  men  of  high 
character  and  good  capacity,  whether  white  or  black. 
But  it  has  been  my  consistent  policy  in  every  State 
where  their  numbers  warranted  it  to  recognize  colored 
men  of  good  repute  and  standing  in  making  appointments 
to  office.  These  appointments  of  colored  men  have  in 
no  State  made  more  than  a  small  proportion  of  the  total 
number  of  appointments.  I  am  unable  to  see  how  I  can 
legitimately  be  asked  to  make  an  exception  for  South 
Carolina.  In  South  Carolina,  to  the  four  most  important 
positions  in  the  State  I  have  appointed  three  men  and 
continued  in  office  a  fourth,  all  of  them  white  men — 
three  of  them  originally  gold  Democrats — two  of  them, 
as  I  am  informed,  the  sons  of  Confederate  soldiers.  I 
have  been  informed  by  the  citizens  of  Charleston  whom  I 
have  met  that  these  four  men  represent  a  high  grade  of 
public  service. 

I  do  not  intend  to  appoint  any  unfit  men  to  office.  So 
far  as  I  legitimately  can  I  shall  always  endeavor  to  pay 
regard  to  the  wishes  and  feelings  of  the  people  of  each 
locality ;  but  I  cannot  consent  to  take  the  position  that 
the  door  of  hope — the  door  of  opportunity — is  to  be  shut 
upon  any  man,  no  matter  how  worthy,  purely  upon  the 
grounds  of  race  or  color.  Such  an  attitude  would,  ac 
cording  to  my  convictions,  be  fundamentally  wrong.  If, 
as  you  hold,  the  great  bulk  of  the  colored  people  are  not 
yet  fit  in  point  of  character  and  influence  to  hold  such 
positions,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  worth  while  putting  a 
premium  upon  the  effort  among  them  to  achieve  the 
character  and  standing  which  will  fit  them. 

The  question  of  ''negro  domination"  does  not  enter 
into  the  matter  at  all.  It  might  as  well  be  asserted  that 
when  I  was  Governor  of  New  York  I  sought  to  bring 
about  negro  domination  in  that  State  because  I  appointed 
two  colored  men  of  good  character  and  standing  to  re 
sponsible  positions — one  of  them  to  a  position  paying  a 


LETTERS  269 

salary  twice  as  large  as  that  paid  in  the  office  now  under 
consideration — one  of  them  as  a  director  of  the  Buffalo 
Exposition.  The  question  raised  by  you  and  Mr.  — 
in  the  statements  to  which  I  refer,  is  simply  whether  it  is 
to  be  declared  that  under  no  circumstances  shall  any  man 
of  color,  no  matter  how  upright  and  honest,  no  matter 
how  good  a  citizen,  no  matter  how  fair  in  his  dealings 
with  his  fellows,  be  permitted  to  hold  any  office  under 
our  government.  I  certainly  cannot  assume  such  an  atti 
tude,  and  you  must  permit  me  to  say  that  in  my  view  it 
is  an  attitude  no  man  should  assume,  whether  he  looks 
at  it  from  the  standpoint  of  the  true  interest  of  the  white 
men  of  the  South  or  of  the  colored  men  of  the  South,  not 
to  speak  of  any  other  section  of  the  Union.  It  seems  to 
me  that  it  is  a  good  thing  from  every  standpoint  to  let 
the  colored  man  know  that  if  he  shows  in  marked  degree 
the  qualities  of  good  citizenship — the  qualities  which  in 
a  white  man  we  feel  are  entitled  to  reward — then  he  will 
not  be  cut  off  from  all  hope  of  similar  reward. 

Without  any  regard  to  what  my  decision  may  be  on 
the  merits  of  this  particular  applicant  for  this  particular 
place,  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  let  you  know  clearly  my  at 
titude  on  the  far  broader  question  raised  by  you  and 
Mr.  -  — ;  an  attitude  from  which  I  have  not  varied 
during  my  term  of  office. 

Faithfully  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 
Hon.-     -, 

Charleston,  S.  C. 


WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  February  24,  1903. 

MY  DEAR  MR.   HOWELL: 

I  have  a  high  opinion  of  the  gentleman  you  mention, 
and  if  the  opportunity  occurs  I  shall  be  glad  to  do  any 
thing  I  can  for  him. 


270  LETTERS 

Now  as  to  what  you  say  concerning  Federal  appoint 
ments  in  the  South.  Frankly,  it  seems  to  me  that  my 
appointments  speak  for  themselves  and  that  my  policy  is 
self-explanatory.  So  far  from  feeling  that  they  need  the 
slightest  apology  or  justification,  my  position  is  that  on 
the  strength  of  what  I  have  done  I  have  the  right  to 
claim  the  support  of  all  good  citizens  who  wish  not  only 
a  high  standard  of  Federal  service,  but  fair  and  equitable 
dealing  to  the  South  as  well  as  to  the  North,  and  a  policy 
of  consistent  justice  and  good-will  toward  all  men.  In 
making  appointments  I  have  sought  to  consider  the  feel 
ings  of  the  people  of  each  locality  so  far  as  I  could  con 
sistently  do  so  without  sacrificing  principle.  The  prime 
tests  I  have  applied  have  been  those  of  character,  fitness, 
and  ability,  and  when  I  have  been  dissatisfied  with  what 
has  been  offered  within  my  own  party  lines  I  have  with 
out  hesitation  gone  to  the  opposite  party — and  you  are 
of  course  aware  that  I  have  repeatedly  done  this  in  your 
own  State  of  Georgia.  I  certainly  cannot  treat  mere 
color  as  a  permanent  bar  to  holding  office,  any  more  than 
I  could  so  treat  creed  or  birthplace — always  provided  that 
in  other  respects  the  applicant  or  incumbent  is  a  worthy 
and  well-behaved  American  citizen.  Just  as  little  will  I 
treat  it  as  conferring  a  right  to  hold  office.  I  have  scant 
sympathy  with  the  mere  doctrinaire,  with  the  man  of 
mere  theory  who  refuses  to  face  facts;  but  do  you  not 
think  that  in  the  long  run  it  is  safer  for  everybody  if  we 
act  on  the  motto  "all  men  up,"  rather  than  that  of 
''some  men  down  "? 

I  ask  you  to  judge  not  by  what  I  say,  but  by  what 
during  the  last  seventeen  months  I  have  actually  done. 
In  your  own  State  of  Georgia  you  are  competent  to  judge 
from  your  own  experience.  In  the  great  bulk  of  the  cases 
I  have  reappointed  President  McKinley's  appointees. 
The  changes  I  have  made,  such  as  that  in  the  postmaster- 
ship  at  Athens  and  in  the  surveyorship  at  Atlanta,  were, 


LETTERS  271 

as  I  think  you  will  agree,  changes  for  the  better  and  not 
for  the  worse.  It  happens  that  in  each  of  these  offices  I 
have  appointed  a  white  man  to  succeed  a  colored  man. 
In  South  Carolina  I  have  similarly  appointed  a  white 
postmaster  to  succeed  a  colored  postmaster.  Again,  in 
South  Carolina  I  have  nominated  a  colored  man  to  fill 
a  vacancy  in  the  position  of  collector  of  the  port  of 
Charleston,  just  as  in  Georgia  I  have  reappointed  the 
colored  man  who  is  now  serving  as  collector  of  the  port 
of  Savannah.  Both  are  fit  men.  Why  the  appointment 
of  one  should  cause  any  more  excitement  than  the  ap 
pointment  of  the  other,  I  am  wholly  at  a  loss  to  imagine. 
As  I  am  writing  to  a  man  of  keen  and  trained  intelligence 
I  need  hardly  say  that  to  connect  either  of  these  appoint 
ments,  or  any  or  all  my  other  appointments,  or  my  actions 
in  upholding  the  law  at  Indianola  with  such  questions  as 
"social  equality"  and  "negro  domination"  is  as  absurd 
as  to  connect  them  with  the  nebular  hypothesis  or  the 
theory  of  atoms. 

I  have  consulted  freely  with  your  own  senators  and 
congressmen  as  to  the  character  and  capacity  of  any  ap 
pointee  in  Georgia  concerning  whom  there  was  question. 
My  party  advisers  in  the  State  have  been  Major  Hanson 
of  Macon,  Mr.  Walter  Johnson  of  Atlanta — both  of  them 
ex-Confederate  soldiers — and  Mr.  Harry  Stillwell  Ed 
wards,  also  of  Macon.  I  believe  you  will  agree  with  me 
that  in  no  State  would  it  be  possible  to  find  gentlemen 
abler  and  more  upright  or  better  qualified  to  fill  the  posi 
tions  they  have  filled  with  reference  to  me.  In  every 
instance  where  these  gentlemen  have  united  in  making  a 
recommendation  I  have  been  able  to  follow  their  advice. 
Am  I  not  right  in  saying  that  the  Federal  office-holders 
whom  I  have  appointed  throughout  your  State  are,  as  a 
body,  men  and  women  of  a  high  order  of  efficiency  and 
integrity?  If  you  know  of  any  Federal  office-holder  in 
Georgia  of  whom  this  is  not  true  pray  let  me  know  at 


272  LETTERS 

once.  I  will  welcome  testimony  from  you  or  from  any 
other  reputable  citizen  which  will  tend  to  show  that  a 
given  public  officer  is  unworthy ;  and,  most  emphatically, 
short  will  be  the  shrift  of  any  one  whose  lack  of  worth  is 
proven.  Incidentally  I  may  mention  that  a  large  per 
centage  of  the  incumbents  of  Federal  offices  in  Georgia 
under  me  are,  as  I  understand  it,  of  your  own  political 
faith.  But  they  are  supported  by  me  in  every  way  as 
long  as  they  continue  to  render  good  and  faithful  service 
to  the  public. 

This  is  true  of  your  own  State;  and  by  applying  to 
Mr.  Thomas  Nelson  Page  of  Virginia,  to  General  Basil 
Duke  of  Kentucky,  to  Mr.  George  Crawford  of  Tennes 
see,  to  Mr.  John  Mcllhenny  of  Louisiana,  to  Judge  Jones 
of  Alabama,  and  to  Mr.  Edgar  L.  Wilson  of  Mississippi, 
all  of  them  Democrats  and  all  of  them  men  of  the  highest 
standing  in  their  respective  communities,  you  will  find 
that  what  I  have  done  in  Georgia  stands  not  as  the  excep 
tion  but  as  the  rule  for  what  I  have  done  throughout  the 
South.  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  my  appointees 
in  the  different  States  mentioned — and  as  the  sum  of  the 
parts  is  the  whole,  necessarily  in  the  South  at  large — rep 
resent  not  merely  an  improvement  upon  those  whose 
places  they  took,  but,  upon  the  whole,  a  higher  standard 
of  Federal  service  than  has  hitherto  been  attained  in  the 
communities  in  question.  I  may  add  that  the  proportion 
of  colored  men  among  these  new  appointees  is  only 
about  one  in  a  hundred. 

In  view  of  all  these  facts  I  have  been  surprised,  and 
somewhat  pained,  at  what  seems  to  me  the  incomprehen 
sible  outcry  in  the  South  about  my  actions — an  outcry 
apparently  started  in  New  York  for  reasons  wholly  un 
connected  with  the  question  nominally  at  issue.  I  am 
concerned  at  the  attitude  thus  taken  by  so  many  of  the 
Southern  people ;  but  I  am  not  in  the  least  angry ;  and 
still  less  will  this  attitude  have  the  effect  of  making  me 


LETTERS  273 

swerve  one  hair's  breadth,  to  one  side  or  the  other,  from 
the  course  I  have  marked  out, — the  course  I  have  con 
sistently  followed  in  the  past  and  shall  consistently  follow 
in  the  future. 
With  regard, 

Sincerely  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 
Hon.  CLARK  HOWELL, 

Editor,  The  Constitution,  Atlanta,  Ga. 


LABOR   UNIONS   AND    THE    PUBLIC    SERVICE 

On  May  1 8,  1903,  William  A.  Miller  was  removed  by 
the  Public  Printer  from  his  position  of  Assistant  Fore 
man  at  the  Government  Printing  Office.  Mr.  Miller 
filed  a  complaint  with  the  Civil  Service  Commission 
alleging  that  his  removal  had  been  made  in  violation  of 
the  civil-service  law  and  rules.  After  an  investigation 
of  the  complaint,  and  upon  July  6th,  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  advised  the  Public  Printer  of  its  decision  as 
follows : 

Section  2  of  Civil-Service  Rule  XII,  governing  removals, 
provides  that  no  person  shall  be  removed  from  a  competitive 
position  except  for  such  cause  as  will  promote  the  efficiency 
of  the  public  service.  The  Commission  does  not  consider 
expulsion  from  a  labor  union,  being  the  action  of  a  body  in  no 
way  connected  with  the  public  service  nor  having  authority 
over  public  employees,  to  be  such  a  cause  as  will  promote  the 
efficiency  of  the  public  service. 

As  the  only  reason  given  by  you  for  your  removal  of  Mr. 
Miller  is  that  he  was  expelled  from  Local  Union  No.  4,  Inter 
national  Brotherhood  of  Bookbinders,  you  are  advised  that 
the  Commission  cannot  recognize  his  removal  and  must  re 
quest  that  he  be  reassigned  to  duty  in  his  position. 

Mr.   Miller's  complaint  had  also  been  filed  with  the 

18 


274  LETTERS 

President,  under  whose  direction  it  was  being  investigated 
by  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  simultaneously 
with  the  investigation  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 
As  a  result  of  such  investigations,  the  following  letters, 
under  dates  of  July  13  and  14,  1903,  were  written  by  the 
President : 

OYSTER  BAY,  N.  Y.,  July  13,  1903. 

MY  DEAR  SECRETARY  CORTELYOU  : 

In  accordance  with  the  letter  of  the  Civil  Service  Com 
mission  of  July  6th,  the  Public  Printer  will  reinstate  Mr. 
W.  A.  Miller  in  his  position.  Meanwhile  I  will  withhold 
my  final  decision  of  the  whole  case  until  I  have  received 
the  report  of  the  investigation  on  Miller's  second  com 
munication,  which  you  notify  me  has  been  begun  to-day, 
July  1 3th. 

On  the  face  of  the  papers  presented,  Miller  would  ap 
pear  to  have  been  removed  in  violation  of  law.  There  is 
no  objection  to  the  employees  of  the  Government  Print 
ing  Office  constituting  themselves  into  a  union  if  they  so 
desire;  but  no  rules  or  resolutions  of  that  union  can  be 
permitted  to  over-ride  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
which  it  is  my  sworn  duty  to  enforce. 

Please  communicate  a  copy  of  this  letter  to  the  Public 
Printer  for  his  information  and  that  of  his  subordinates. 
Very  truly  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 
Hon.  GEORGE  B.  CORTELYOU, 

Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

(Copy) 

OYSTER  BAY,  N.  Y.,  July  14,  1903. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  CORTELYOU  : 

In  connection  with  my  letter  of  yesterday  I  call  atten 
tion  to  this  judgment  and  award  by  the  Anthracite  Coal 
Strike  Commission  in  its  report  to  me  of  March  i8th  last: 


LETTERS  275 

It  is  adjudged  and  awarded  that  no  person  shall  be  refused 
employment  or  in  any  way  discriminated  against  on  account 
of  membership  or  non-membership  in  any  labor  organization, 
and  that  there  shall  be  no  discrimination  against  or  interfer 
ence  with  any  employee  who  is  not  a  member  of  any  labor 
organization  by  members  of  such  organization. 

I  heartily  approve  of  this  award  and  judgment  by  the 
commission  appointed  by  me,  which  itself  included  a 
member  of  a  labor  union.  This  commission  was  dealing 
with  labor  organizations  working  for  private  employers. 
It  is  of  course  mere  elementary  decency  to  require  that 
all  the  Government  departments  shall  be  handled  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  principle  thus  clearly  and  fearlessly 
enunciated. 

Please  furnish  a  copy  of  this  letter  both  to  Mr.  Palmer 
and  to  the  Civil  Service  Commission  for  their  guidance. 
Sincerely  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 
Hon.  GEO.  B.  CORTELYOU, 

Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

September  29,  1903. 

Pursuant  to  the  request  of  Samuel  Gompers,  President 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  the  President 
granted  an  interview  this  evening  to  the  following  mem 
bers  of  the  Executive  Council  of  that  body :  Mr.  Samuel 
Gompers,  Mr.  James  Duncan,  Mr.  John  Mitchell,  Mr. 
James  O'Connell,  and  Mr.  Frank  Morrison,  at  which 
various  subjects  of  legislation  in  the  interest  of  labor,  as 
well  as  executive  action,  were  discussed.  Concerning 
the  case  of  William  A.  Miller  the  President  made  the 
following  statement : 

"I  thank  you  and  your  committee  for  your  courtesy, 
and  I  appreciate  the  opportunity  to  meet  with  you.  It 
will  always  be  a  pleasure  to  see  you  or  any  representa- 


276  LETTERS 

tives  of  your  organizations  or  of  your  Federation  as  a 
whole. 

"As  regards  the  Miller  case,  I  have  little  to  add  to  what 
I  have  already  said.  In  dealing  with  it  I  ask  you  to  re 
member  that  I  am  dealing  purely  with  the  relation  of  the 
Government  to  its  employees.  I  must  govern  my  action 
by  the  laws  of  the  land,  which  I  am  sworn  to  administer, 
and  which  differentiates  any  case  in  which  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  is  a  party  from  all  other  cases 
whatsoever.  These  laws  are  enacted  for  the  benefit  of 
the  whole  people,  and  can  not  and  must  not  be  construed 
as  permitting  discrimination  against  some  of  the  people. 
I  am  President  of  all  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
without  regard  to  creed,  color,  birthplace,  occupation,  or 
social  condition.  My  aim  is  to  do  equal  and  exact  jus 
tice  as  among  them  all.  In  the  employment  and  dismissal 
of  men  in  the  Government  service  I  can  no  more  recognize 
the  fact  that  a  man  does  or  does  not  belong  to  a  union  as 
being  for  or  against  him  than  I  can  recognize  the  fact 
that  he  is  a  Protestant  or  a  Catholic,  a  Jew  or  a  Gentile, 
as  being  for  or  against  him. 

"In  the  communications  sent  me  by  various  labor  organ 
izations  protesting  against  the  retention  of  Miller  in  the 
Government  Printing  Office,  the  grounds  alleged  are  two 
fold  :  I,  that  he  is  a  non-union  man;  2,  that  he  is  not 
personally  fit.  The  question  of  his  personal  fitness  is 
one  to  be  settled  in  the  routine  of  administrative  detail, 
and  can  not  be  allowed  to  conflict  with  or  to  complicate 
the  larger  question  of  governmental  discrimination  for  or 
against  him  or  any  other  man  because  he  is  or  is  not  a 
member  of  a  union.  This  is  the  only  question  now  be 
fore  me  for  decision;  and  as  to  this  my  decision  is  final." 


LETTERS  277 

OYSTER  BAY,  N.  Y.,  August  6,  1903. 

MY  DEAR  GOVERNOR  DURBIN: 

Permit  me  to  thank  you  as  an  American  citizen  for  the 
admirable  way  in  which  you  have  vindicated  the  majesty 
of  the  law  by  your  recent  action  in  reference  to  lynching. 
I  feel,  my  dear  sir,  that  you  have  made  all  men  your 
debtors  who  believe,  as  all  far-seeing  men  must,  that  the 
well-being,  indeed  the  very  existence,  of  the  Republic 
depends  upon  that  spirit  of  orderly  liberty  under  the  law 
which  is  as  incompatible  with  mob  violence  as  with  any 
form  of  despotism.  Of  course  mob  violence  is  simply 
one  form  of  anarchy ;  and  anarchy  is  now,  as  it  always 
has  been,  the  handmaiden  and  forerunner  of  tyranny. 

I  feel  that  you  have  not  only  reflected  honor  upon  the 
State  which  for  its  good  fortune  has  you  as  its  Chief 
Executive,  but  upon  the  whole  nation.  ^  It  is  incumbent 
upon  every  man  throughout  this  country  not  only  to  hold 
up  your  hands  in  the  course  you  have  been  following,  but 
to  show  his  realization  that  the  matter  is  one  which  is  of 
vital  concern  to  us  all. 

All  thoughtful  men  must  feel  the  gravest  alarm  over 
the  growth  of  lynching  in  this  country,  and  especially 
over  the  peculiarly  hideous  forms  so  often  taken  by  mob 
violence  when  colored  men  are  the  victims — on  which 
occasions  the  mob  seems  to  lay  most  weight,  not  on  the 
crime,  but  on  the  color  of  the  criminal.  In  a  certain 
proportion  of  these  cases  the  man  lynched  has  been  guilty 
of  a  crime  horrible  beyond  description ;  a  crime  so  horrible 
that  as  far  as  he  himself  is  concerned  he  has  forfeited  the 
right  to  any  kind  of  sympathy  whatsoever.  The  feeling 
of  all  good  citizens  that  such  a  hideous  crime  shall  not  be 
hideously  punished  by  mob  violence  is  due  not  in  the 
least  to  sympathy  for  the  criminal,  but  to  a  very  lively 
sense  of  the  train  of  dreadful  consequences  which  fol 
lows  the  course  taken  by  the  mob  in  exacting  inhuman 


2;8  LETTERS 

vengeance  for  an  in  human  wrong.  In  such  cases,  moreover, 
it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  criminal  not  merely  sins 
against  humanity  in  inexpiable  and  unpardonable  fashion, 
but  sins  particularly  against  his  own  race,  and  does  them 
a  wrong  far  greater  than  any  white  man  can  possibly  do 
them.  Therefore,  in  such  cases  the  colored  people 
throughout  the  land  should  in  every  possible  way  show 
their  belief  that  they,  more  than  all  others  in  the  com 
munity,  are  horrified  at  the  commission  of  such  a  crime 
and  are  peculiarly  concerned  in  taking  every  possible 
measure  to  prevent  its  recurrence  and  to  bring  the  crimi 
nal  to  immediate  justice.  The  slightest  lack  of  vigor 
either  in  denunciation  of  the  crime  or  in  bringing  the 
criminal  to  justice  is  itself  unpardonable. 

Moreover,  every  effort  should  be  made  under  the  law 
to  expedite  the  proceedings  of  justice  in  the  case  of  such 
an  awful  crime.  But  it  cannot  be  necessary  in  order  to 
accomplish  this  to  deprive  any  citizen  of  those  funda 
mental  rights  to  be  heard  in  his  own  defence  which  are  so 
dear  to  us  all  and  which  lie  at  the  root  of  our  liberty.  It 
certainly  ought  to  be  possible  by  the  proper  administra 
tion  of  the  laws  to  secure  swift  vengeance  upon  the 
criminal ;  and  the  best  and  immediate  efforts  of  all  legis 
lators,  judges,  and  citizens  should  be  addressed  to  secur 
ing  such  reforms  in  our  legal  procedure  as  to  leave  no 
vestige  of  excuse  for  those  misguided  men  who  undertake 
to  reap  vengeance  through  violent  methods. 

Men  who  have  been  guilty  of  a  crime  like  rape  or 
murder  should  be  visited  with  swift  and  certain  punish 
ment  and  the  just  effort  made  by  the  courts  to  protect 
them  in  their  rights  should  under  no  circumstances  be 
perverted  into  permitting  any  mere  technicality  to  avert 
or  delay  their  punishment.  The  substantial  rights  of  the 
prisoner  to  a  fair  trial  must  of  course  be  guaranteed,  as 
you  have  so  justly  insisted  that  they  should  be;  but, 
subject  to  this  guarantee,  the  law  must  work  swiftly  and 


LETTERS  279 

surely  and  all  the  agents  tfst^he  law  should  realize  the 
wrong  they  do  when  they  permit  justice  to  be  delayed  or 
thwarted  for  technical  or  insufficient  reasons.  We  must 
show  that  the  law  is  adequate  to  deal  with  crime  by  free 
ing  it  from  every  vestige  of  technicality  and  delay. 

But  the  fullest  recognition  of  the  horror  of  the  crime 
and  the  most  complete  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  crimi 
nal  cannot  in  the  least  diminish  our  horror  at  the  way  in 
which  it  has  become  customary  to  avenge  these  crimes 
and  at  the  consequences  tnat  are  already  proceeding 
therefrom.  It  is  of  course  inevitable  that  where  venge 
ance  is  taken  by  a  mob  it  should  frequently  light  on 
innocent  people ;  and  the  wrong  done  in  such  a  case  to 
the  individual  is  one  for  which  there  is  no  remedy.  But 
even  where  the  real  criminal  is  reached,  the  wrong  done 
by  the  mob  to  the  community  itself  is  well-nigh  as  great. 
Especially  is  this  true  where  the  lynching  is  accompanied 
with  torture.  There  are  certain  hideous  sights  which 
when  once  seen  can  never  be  wholly  erased  from  the 
mental  retina.  The  mere  fact  of  having  seen  them  im 
plies  degradation.  This  is  a  thousandfold  stronger  when, 
instead  of  merely  seeing  the  deed,  the  man  has  partici 
pated  in  it.  Whoever  in  any  part  of  our  country  has  ever 
taken  part  in  lawlessly  putting  to  death  a  criminal  by  the 
dreadful  torture  of  fire  must  forever  after  have  the  awful 
spectacle  of  his  own  handiwork  seared  into  his  brain  and 
soul.  He  can  never  again  be  the  same  man. 

This  matter  of  lynching  would  be  a  terrible  thing  even 
if  it  stopped  with  the  lynching  of  men  guilty  of  the  in 
human  and  hideous  crime  of  rape ;  but.  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
lawlessness  of  this  type  never  does  stop  and  never  can  stop 
in  such  fashion.  Every  violent  man  in  the  community  is 
encouraged  by  every  case  of  lynching  in  which  the  lynchers 
go  unpunished  to  himself  take  the  law  into  his  own  hands 
whenever  it  suits  his  own  convenience.  In  the  same  way 
the  use  of  torture  by  the  mob  in  certain  cases  is  sure  to 


28o  LETERS. 


spread  until  it  is  applied  rn-  or  less  indiscriminately  in 
other  cases.  The  spirit  of  lawlessness  grows  with  what  it 
feeds  on,  and  when  mobs  with  impunity  lynch  criminals 
for  one  cause,  they  are  certain  to  begin  to  lynch  real  or 
alleged  criminals  for  other  causes.  In  the  recent  cases  of 
lynching,  over  three  fourths  were  not  for  rape  at  all,  but 
for  murder,  attempted  murder,  and  even  less  heinous  of 
fences.  Moreover,  the  history  of  these  recent  cases  shows 
the  awful  fact  that  when  the  minds  of  men  are  habituated 
to  the  use  of  torture  by  lawless  bodies  to  avenge  crimes 
of  a  peculiarly  revolting  description,  other  lawless  bodies 
will  use  torture  in  order  to  punish  crimes  of  an  ordinary 
type.  Surely  no  patriot  can  fail  to  see  the  fearful  brutali- 
zation  and  debasement  which  the  indulgence  of  such  a 
spirit  and  such  practices  inevitably  portends.  Surely  all 
public  men,  all  writers  for  the  daily  press,  all  clergymen, 
all  teachers,  all  who  in  any  way  have  a  right  to  address 
the  public,  should  with  every  energy  unite  to  denounce 
such  crimes  and  to  support  those  engaged  in  putting  them 
down.  As  a  people  we  claim  the  right  to  speak  with 
peculiar  emphasis  for  freedom  and  for  fair  treatment  of 
all  men  without  regard  to  differences  of  race,  fortune, 
creed,  or  color.  We  forfeit  the  right  so  to  speak  when 
we  commit  or  condone  such  crimes  as  those  of  which  I 
speak. 

The  nation,  like  the  individual,  cannot  commit  a  crime 
with  impunity.  If  we  are  guilty  of  lawlessness  and  brutal 
violence,  whether  our  guilt  consists  in  active  participation 
therein  or  in  mere  connivance  and  encouragement,  we 
shall  assuredly  suffer  later  on  because  of  what  we  have 
done.  The  cornerstone  of  this  Republic,  as  of  all  free 
government,  is  respect  for  and  obedience  to  the  law. 
Where  we  permit  the  law  to  be  defied  or  evaded,  whether 
by  rich  man  or  poor  man,  by  black  man  or  white,  we  are 
by  just  so  much  weakening  the  bonds  of  our  civilization 
and  increasing  the  chances  of  its  overthrow,  and  of  the 


LETTERS  281 

substitution  therefor  of  a  system  in  which  there  shall  be 
violent  alternations  of  anarchy  and  tyranny. 

Sincerely  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 

Hon.  WlNFIELD  T.  DURBIN, 
Governor  of  Indiana, 

Indianapolis,  Indiana. 


PRESIDENTIAL  MESSAGES 


283 


MESSAGE  COMMUNICATED  TO  THE  TWO  HOUSES 
OF  CONGRESS  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
FIRST  SESSION  OF  THE  FIFTY  -  SEVENTH 
CONGRESS 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : 

The  Congress  assembles  this  year  under  the  shadow  of 
a  great  calamity.  On  the  sixth  of  September,  President 
McKinley  was  shot  by  an  anarchist  while  attending  the 
Pan-American  Exposition  at  Buffalo,  and  died  in  that 
city  on  the  fourteenth  of  that  month. 

Of  the  last  seven  elected  Presidents,  he  is  the  third  who 
has  been  murdered,  and  the  bare  recital  of  this  fact  is 
sufficient  to  justify  grave  alarm  among  all  loyal  American 
citizens.  Moreover,  the  circumstances  of  this,  the  third 
assassination  of  an  American  President,  have  a  peculiarly 
sinister  significance.  Both  President  Lincoln  and  Presi 
dent  Garfield  were  killed  by  assassins  of  types  unfortu 
nately  not  uncommon  in  history ;  President  Lincoln  falling 
a  victim  to  the  terrible  passions  aroused  by  four  years  of 
civil  war,  and  President  Garfield  to  the  revengeful  vanity 
of  a  disappointed  office-seeker.  President  McKinley  was 
killed  by  an  utterly  depraved  criminal  belonging  to  that 
body  of  criminals  who  object  to  all  governments,  good 
and  bad  alike,  who  are  against  any  form  of  popular  liberty 
if  it  is  guaranteed  by  even  the  most  just  and  liberal  laws, 
and  who  are  as  hostile  to  the  upright  exponent  of  a  free 
people's  sober  will  as  to  the  tyrannical  and  irresponsible 
despot. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  sav^that  at  the  time  of  President 


286  MESS/iGES 

McKinley's  death  he  was  the  most  widely  loved  man  in 
all  the  United  States ;  while  we  have  never  had  any  public 
man  of  his  position,  who  has  been  so  wholly  free  from  the 
bitter  animosities  incident  to  public  life.  His  political 
opponents  were  the  first  to  bear  the  heartiest  and  most 
generous  tribute  to  the  broad  kindliness  of  nature,  the 
sweetness  and  gentleness  of  character  which  so  endeared 
him  to  his  close  associates.  To  a  standard  of  lofty  in 
tegrity  in  public  life  he  united  the  tender  affections  and 
home  virtues  which  are  all-important  in  the  make-up  of 
national  character.  A  gallant  soldier  in  the  great  war  for 
the  Union,  he  also  shone  as  an  example  to  all  our  people 
because  of  his  conduct  in  the  most  sacred  and  intimate  of 
home  relations.  There  could  be  no  personal  hatred  of 
him,  for  he  never  acted  with  aught  but  consideration  for 
the  welfare  of  others.  No  one  could  fail  to  respect  him 
who  knew  him  in  public  or  private  life.  The  defenders 
of  those  murderous  criminals  who  seek  to  excuse  their 
criminality  by  asserting  that  it  is  exercised  for  political 
ends,  inveigh  against  wealth  and  irresponsible  power. 
But  for  this  assassination  even  this  base  apology  cannot 
be  urged. 

President  McKinley  was  a  man  of  moderate  means,  a 
man  whose  stock  sprang  from  the  sturdy  tillers  of  the 
soil,  who  had  himself  belonged  among  the  wage  workers, 
who  had  entered  the  Army  as  a  private  soldier.  Wealth 
was  not  struck  at  when  the  President  was  assassinated, 
but  the  honest  toil  which  is  content  with  moderate  gains 
after  a  lifetime  of  unremitting  labor,  largely  in  the  service 
of  the  public.  Still  less  was  power  struck  at  in  the  sense 
that  power  is  irresponsible  or  centred  in  the  hands  of  any 
one  individual.  The  blow  was  not  aimed  at  tyranny  or 
wealth.  It  was  aimed  at  one  of  the  strongest  champions 
the  wage  worker  has  ever  had ;  at  one  of  the  most  faith 
ful  representatives  of  the  system  of  public  rights  and 
representative  government  who  has  ever  risen  to  public 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  287 

office.  President  McKinley  filled  that  political  office  for 
which  the  entire  people  vote,  and  no  President — not  even 
Lincoln  himself  —  was  ever  more  earnestly  anxious  to 
represent  the  well-thought-out  wishes  of  the  people;  his 
one  anxiety  in  every  crisis  was  to  keep  in  closest  touch 
with  the  people — to  find  out  what  they  thought  and  to 
endeavor  to  give  expression  to  their  thought,  after  having 
endeavored  to  guide  that  thought  aright.  He  had  just 
been  re-elected  to  the  Presidency  because  the  majority  of 
our  citizens,  the  majority  of  our  farmers  and  wage  work 
ers,  believed  that  he  had  faithfully  upheld  their  interests 
for  four  years.  They  felt  themselves  in  close  and  intimate 
touch  with  him.  They  felt  that  he  represented  so  well 
and  so  honorably  all  their  ideals  and  aspirations  that  they 
wished  him  to  continue  for  another  four  years  to  repre 
sent  them. 

And  this  was  the  man  at  whom  the  assassin  struck! 
That  there  might  be  nothing  lacking  to  complete  the 
Judas-like  infamy  of  his  act,  he  took  advantage  of  an 
occasion  when  the  President  was  meeting  the  people 
generally;  and  advancing  as  if  to  take  the  hand  out 
stretched  to  him  in  kindly  and  brotherly  fellowship,  he 
turned  the  noble  and  generous  confidence  of  the  victim 
into  an  opportunity  to  strike  the  fatal  blow.  There  is  no 
baser  deed  in  all  the  annals  of  crime. 

The  shock,  the  grief  of  the  country,  are  bitter  in  the 
minds  of  all  who  saw  the  dark  days,  while  the  President 
yet  hovered  between  life  and  death.  At  last  the  light 
was  stilled  in  the  kindly  eyes  and  the  breath  went  from 
the  lips  that  even  in  mortal  agony  uttered  no  words  save 
of  forgiveness  to  his  murderer,  of  love  for  his  friends,  and 
of  unfaltering  trust  in  the  will  of  the  Most  High.  Such 
a  death,  crowning  the  glory  of  such  a  life,  leaves  us  with 
infinite  sorrow,  but  with  such  pride  in  what  he  had  ac 
complished  and  in  his  own  personal  character,  that  we 
feel  the  blow  not  as  struck  at  him,  but  as  struck  at  the 


J 


288  MESSAGES 

Nation.  We  mourn  a  good  and  great  President  who  is 
dead ;  but  while  we  mourn  we  are  lifted  up  by  the  splen 
did  achievements  of  his  life  and  the  grand  heroism  with 
which  he  met  his  death. 

When  we  turn  from  the  man  to  the  Nation,  the  harm 
done  is  so  great  as  to  excite  our  gravest  apprehensions 
and  to  demand  our  wisest  and  most  resolute  action. 
This  criminal  was  a  professed  anarchist,  inflamed  by  the 
teachings  of  professed  anarchists,  and  probably  also  by 
the  reckless  utterances  of  those  who,  on  the  stump  and 
in  the  public  press,  appeal  to  the  dark  and  evil  spirits  of 
malice  and  greed,  envy  and  sullen  hatred.  The  wind  is 
sowed  by  the  men  who  preach  such  doctrines,  and  they 
cannot  escape  their  share  of  responsibility  for  the  whirl 
wind  that  is  reaped.  This  applies  alike  to  the  deliberate 
demagogue,  to  the  exploiter  of  sensationalism,  and  to  the 
crude  and  foolish  visionary  who,  for  whatever  reason, 
apologizes  for  crime  or  excites  aimless  discontent. 

The  blow  was  aimed  not  at  this  President,  but  at  all 
Presidents;  at  every  symbol  of  government.  President 
McKinley  was  as  emphatically  the  embodiment  of  the 
popular  will  of  the  Nation  expressed  through  the  forms 
of  law  as  a  New  England  town  meeting  is  in  similar 
fashion  the  embodiment  of  the  law-abiding  purpose  and 
practice  of  the  people  of  the  town.  On  no  conceivable 
theory  could  the  murder  of  the  President  be  accepted  as 
due  to  protest  against  " inequalities  in  the  social  order," 
save  as  the  murder  of  all  the  freemen  engaged  in  a  town 
meeting  could  be  accepted  as  a  protest  against  that  social 
inequality  which  puts  a  malefactor  in  jail.  Anarchy  is 
no  more  an  expression  of  "social  discontent"  than  pick 
ing  pockets  or  wife-beating. 

The  anarchist,  and  especially  the  anarchist  in  the 
United  States,  is  merely  one  type  of  criminal,  more  dan 
gerous  than  any  other  because  he  represents  the  same 
depravity  in  a  greater  degree.  The  man  who  advocates 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  289 

anarchy  directly  or  indirectly,  in  any  shape  or  fashion,  or 
the  man  who  apologizes  for  anarchists  and  their  deeds, 
makes  himself  morally  accessory  to  murder  before  the 
fact.  The  anarchist  is  a  criminal  whose  perverted  in 
stincts  lead  him  to  prefer  confusion  and  chaos  to  the  most 
beneficent  form  of  social  order.  His  protest  of  concern 
for  working  men  is  outrageous  in  its  impudent  falsity ;  for 
if  the  political  institutions  of  this  country  do  not  afford 
opportunity  to  every  honest  and  intelligent  son  of  toil, 
then  the  door  of  hope  is  forever  closed  against  him.  The 
anarchist  is  everywhere  not  merely  the  enemy  of  system 
and  of  progress,  but  the  deadly  foe  of  liberty.  If  ever 
anarchy  is  triumphant,  its  triumph  will  last  for  but  one 
red  moment,  to  be  succeeded  for  ages  by  the  gloomy 
night  of  despotism. 

For  the  anarchist  himself,  whether  he  preaches  or  prac 
tises  his  doctrines,  we  need  not  have  one  particle  more 
concern  than  for  any  ordinary  murderer.  He  is  not  the 
victim  of  social  or  political  injustice.  There  are  no 
wrongs  to  remedy  in  his  case.  The  cause  of  his  criminal 
ity  is  to  be  found  in  his  own  evil  passions  and  in  the  evil 
conduct  of  those  who  urge  him  on,  not  in  any  failure  by 
others  or  by  the  State  to  do  justice  to  him  or  his.  He  is 
a  malefactor  and  nothing  else.  He  is  in  no  sense,  in  no 
shape  or  way,  a  "product  of  social  conditions,"  save  as  a 
highwayman  is  "produced"  by  the  fact  that  an  unarmed 
man  happens  to  have  a  purse.  It  is  a  travesty  upon  the 
great  and  holy  names  of  liberty  and  freedom  to  permit 
them  to  be  invoked  in  such  a  cause.  No  man  or  body 
of  men  preaching  anarchistic  doctrines  should  be  allowed 
at  large  any  more  than  if  preaching  the  murder  of 
some  specified  private  individual.  Anarchistic  speeches, 
writings,  and  meetings  are  essentially  seditious  and 
treasonable. 

I  earnestly  recommend  to  the  Congress  that  in  the 
exercise  of  its  wise  discretion  it  should  take  into  con- 


290  MESSAGES 

sideration  the  coming  to  this  country  of  anarchists  or 
persons  professing  principles  hostile  to  all  government 
and  justifying  the  murder  of  those  placed  in  authority. 
Such  individuals  as  those  who  not  long  ago  gathered  in 
open  meeting  to  glorify  the  murder  of  King  Humbert  of 
Italy  perpetrate  a  crime,  and  the  law  should  insure  their 
rigorous  punishment.  They  and  those  like  them  should 
be  kept  out  of  this  country;  and  if  found  here  they 
should  be  promptly  deported  to  the  country  whence  they 
came ;  and  far-reaching  provision  should  be  made  for  the 
punishment  of  those  who  stay.  No  matter  calls  more 
urgently  for  the  wisest  thought  of  the  Congress. 

The  Federal  courts  should  be  given  jurisdiction  over 
any  man  who  kills  or  attempts  to  kill  the  President  or  any 
man  who  by  the  Constitution  or  by  law  is  in  line  of  suc 
cession  for  the  Presidency,  while  the  punishment  for  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  should  be  proportioned  to  the 
enormity  of  the  offence  against  our  institutions. 

Anarchy  is  a  crime  against  the  whole  human  race;  and 
all  mankind  should  band  against  the  anarchist.  His 
crime  should  be  made  an  offence  against  the  law  of 
nations,  like  piracy  and  that  form  of  man-stealing  known 
as  the  slave  trade ;  for  it  is  of  far  blacker  infamy  than 
either.  It  should  be  so  declared  by  treaties  among  all 
civilized  powers.  Such  treaties  would  give  to  the  Federal 
Government  the  power  of  dealing  with  the  crime. 

A  grim  commentary  upon  the  folly  of  the  anarchist 
position  was  afforded  by  the  attitude  of  the  law  toward 
this  very  criminal  who  had  just  taken  the  life  of  the  Presi 
dent.  The  people  would  have  torn  him  limb  from  limb 
if  it  had  not  been  that  the  law  he  defied  was  at  once  in 
voked  in  his  behalf.  So  far  from  his  deed  being  com 
mitted  on  behalf  of  the  people  against  the  Government, 
the  Government  was  obliged  at  once  to  exert  its  full 
police  power  to  save  him  from  instant  death  at  the  hands 
of  the  people.  Moreover,  his  deed  worked  not  the 


5?TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  291 

slightest  dislocation  in  our  governmental  system,  and  the 
danger  of  a  recurrence  of  such  deeds,  no  matter  how  great 
it  might  grow,  would  work  only  in  the  direction  of 
strengthening  and  giving  harshness  to  the  forces  of  order. 
No  man  will  ever  be  restrained  from  becoming  President 
by  any  fear  as  to  his  personal  safety.  If  the  risk  to  the 
President's  life  became  great,  it  would  mean  that  the 
office  would  more  and  more  come  to  be  filled  by  men  of 
a  spirit  which  would  make  them  resolute  and  merciless  in 
dealing  with  every  friend  of  disorder.  This  great  coun 
try  will  not  fall  into  anarchy,  and  if  anarchists  should 
ever  become  a  serious  menace  to  its  institutions,  they 
would  not  merely  be  stamped  out,  but  would  involve  in 
their  own  ruin  every  active  or  passive  sympathizer  with 
their  doctrines.  The  American  people  are  slow  to  wrath, 
but  when  their  wrath  is  once  kindled  it  burns  like  a  con 
suming  flame. 

During  the  last  five  years  business  confidence  has  been 
restored,  and  the  Nation  is  to  be  congratulated  because 
of  its  present  abounding  prosperity.  Such  prosperity 
can  never  be  created  by  law  alone,  although  it  is  easy 
enough  to  destroy  it  by  mischievous  laws.  If  the  hand 
of  the  Lord  is  heavy  upon  any  country,  if  flood  or 
drought  comes,  human  wisdom  is  powerless  to  avert  the 
calamity.  Moreover,  no  law  can  guard  us  against  the 
consequences  of  our  own  folly.  The  men  who  are  idle 
or  credulous,  the  men  who  seek  gains  not  by  genuine 
work  with  head  or  hand  but  by  gambling  in  any  form, 
are  always  a  source  of  menace  not  only  to  themselves  but 
to  others.  If  the  business  world  loses  its  head,  it  loses 
what  legislation  cannot  supply.  Fundamentally  the  wel 
fare  of  each  citizen,  and  therefore  the  welfare  of  the 
aggregate  of  citizens  which  makes  the  Nation,  must  rest 
upon  individual  thrift  and  energy,  resolution  and  intelli 
gence.  Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  this  individual 


292  MESSAGES 

capacity ;  but  wise  legislation  and  honest  and  intelligent 
administration  can  give  it  the  fullest  scope,  the  largest 
opportunity  to  work  to  good  effect. 

The  tremendous  and  highly  complex  industrial  develop 
ment  which  went  on  with  ever  accelerated  rapidity  during 
the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  brings  us  face  to 
face,  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth,  with  very  serious 
social  problems.  The  old  laws,  and  the  old  customs 
which  had  almost  the  binding  force  of  law,  were  once 
quite  sufficient  to  regulate  the  accumulation  and  dis 
tribution  of  wealth.  Since  the  industrial  changes  which 
have  so  enormously  increased  the  productive  power  of 
mankind,  they  are  no  longer  sufficient. 

The  growth  of  cities  has  gone  on  beyond  comparison 
faster  than  the  growth  of  the  country,  and  the  upbuilding 
of  the  great  industrial  centres  has  meant  a  startling  in 
crease,  not  merely  in  the  aggregate  of  wealth,  but  in  the 
number  of  very  large  individual,  and  especially  of  very 
large  corporate,  fortunes.  The  creation  of  these  great 
corporate  fortunes  has  net  been  due  to  the  tariff  nor  to 
any  other  governmental  action,  but  to  natural  causes  in 
the  business  world,  operating  in  other  countries  as  they 
operate  in  our  own. 

The  process  has  aroused  much  antagonism,  a  great  part 
of  which  is  wholly  without  warrant.  It  is  not  true  that 
as  the  rich  have  grown  richer  the  poor  have  grown  poorer. 
On  the  contrary,  never  before  has  the  average  man,  the 
wage  worker,  the  farmer,  the  small  trader,  been  so  well 
off  as  in  this  country  and  at  the  present  time.  There 
have  been  abuses  connected  with  the  accumulation  of 
wealth;  yet  it  remains  true  that  a  fortune  accumulated 
in  legitimate  business  can  be  accumulated  by  the  person 
specially  benefited  only  on  condition  of  conferring  im 
mense  incidental  benefits  upon  others.  Successful  enter 
prise,  of  the  type  which  benefits  all  mankind,  can  only 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  293 

exist  if  the  conditions  are  such  as  to  offer  great  prizes  as 
the  rewards  of  success. 

The  captains  of  industry  who  have  driven  the  railway 
systems  across  this  continent,  who  have  built  up  our  com 
merce,  who  have  developed  our  manufactures,  have  on 
the  whole  done  great  good  to  our  people.  Without 
them  the  material  development  of  which  we  are  so  justly 
proud  could  never  have  taken  place.  Moreover,  we 
should  recognize  the  immense  importance  to  this  material 
development  of  leaving  as  unhampered  as  is  compatible 
with  the  public  good  the  strong  and  forceful  men  upon 
whom  the  success  of  business  operations  inevitably  rests. 
The  slightest  study  of  business  conditions  will  satisfy  any 
one  capable  of  forming  a  judgment  that  the  personal 
equation  is  the  most  important  factor  in  a  business 
operation ;  that  the  business  ability  of  the  man  at  the 
head  of  any  business  concern,  big  or  little,  is  usually  the 
factor  which  fixes  the  gulf  between  striking  success  and 
hopeless  failure. 

An  additional  reason  for  caution  in  dealing  with  cor 
porations  is  to  be  found  in  the  international  commercial 
conditions  of  to-day.  The  same  business  conditions 
which  have  produced  the  great  aggregations  of  corporate 
and  individual  wealth  have  made  them  very  potent  fac 
tors  in  international  commercial  competition.  Business 
concerns  which  have  the  largest  means  at  their  disposal 
and  are  managed  by  the  ablest  men  are  naturally  those 
which  take  the  lead  in  the  strife  for  commercial  suprem 
acy  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  America  has  only 
just  begun  to  assume  that  commanding  position  in  the 
international  business  world  which  we  believe  will  more 
and  more  be  hers.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that 
this  position  be  not  jeoparded,  especially  at  a  time  when 
the  overflowing  abundance  of  our  own  natural  resources 
and  the  skill,  business  energy,  and  mechanical  aptitude 
of  our  people  make  foreign  markets  essential.  Under 


294  MESSAGES 

such  conditions  it  would  be  most  unwise  to  cramp  or  to 
fetter  the  youthful  strength  of  our  Nation. 

Moreover,  it  cannot  too  often  be  pointed  out  that  to 
strike  with  ignorant  violence  at  the  interests  of  one  set 
of  men  almost  inevitably  endangers  the  interests  of  all. 
The  fundamental  rule  in  our  national  life — the  rule  which 
underlies  all  others — is  that,  on  the  whole,  and  in  the 
long  run,  we  shall  go  up  or  down  together.  There  are 
exceptions ;  and  in  times  of  prosperity  some  will  prosper 
far  more,  and  in  times  of  adversity  some  will  suffer  far 
more,  than  others;  but  speaking  generally,  a  period  of 
good  times  means  that  all  share  more  or  less  in  them,  and 
in  a  period  of  hard  times  all  feel  the  stress  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree.  It  surely  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  enter 
into  any  proof  of  this  statement ;  the  memory  of  the  lean 
years  which  began  in  1893  is  still  vivid,  and  we  can  con 
trast  them  with  the  conditions  in  this  very  year  which  is 
now  closing.  Disaster  to  great  business  enterprises  can 
never  have  its  effects  limited  to  the  men  at  the  top.  It 
spreads  throughout,  and  while  it  is  bad  for  everybody,  it 
is  worst  for  those  farthest  down.  The  capitalist  may  be 
shorn  of  his  luxuries;  but  the  wage  worker  may  be 
deprived  of  even  bare  necessities. 

The  mechanism  of  modern  business  is  so  delicate  that 
extreme  care  must  be  taken  not  to  interfere  with  it  in  a 
spirit  of  rashness  or  ignorance.  Many  of  those  who  have 
made  it  their  vocation  to  denounce  the  great  industrial 
combinations  which  are  popularly,  although  with  techni 
cal  inaccuracy,  known  as  "trusts,"  appeal  especially  to 
hatred  and  fear.  These  are  precisely  the  two  emotions, 
particularly  when  combined  with  ignorance,  which  unfit 
men  for  the  exercise  of  cool  and  steady  judgment.  In 
facing  new  industrial  conditions,  the  whole  history  of  the 
world  shows  that  legislation  will  generally  be  both  unwise 
and  ineffective  unless  undertaken  after  calm  inquiry  and 
with  sober  self-restraint.  Much  of  the  legislation  directed 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  295 

at  the  trusts  would  have  been  exceedingly  mischievous 
had  it  not  also  been  entirely  ineffective.  In  accordance 
with  a  well-known  sociological  law,  the  ignorant  or  reck 
less  agitator  has  been  the  really  effective  friend  of  the  evils 
which  he  has  been  nominally  opposing.  In  dealing  with 
business  interests,  for  the  Government  to  undertake  by 
crude  and  ill-considered  legislation  to  do  what  may  turn 
out  to  be  bad,  would  be  to  incur  the  risk  of  such  far- 
reaching  national  disaster  that  it  would  be  preferable  to 
undertake  nothing  at  all.  The  men  who  demand  the  im 
possible  or  the  undesirable  serve  as  the  allies  of  the  forces 
with  which  they  are  nominally  at  war,  for  they  hamper 
those  who  would  endeavor  to  find  out  in  rational  fashion 
what  the  wrongs  really  are  and  to  what  extent  and  in 
what  manner  it  is  practicable  to  apply  remedies. 

All  this  is  true ;  and  yet  it  is  also  true  that  there  are  real 
and  grave  evils,  one  of  the  chief  being  over-capitalization 
because  of  its  many  baleful  consequences ;  and  a  resolute 
and  practical  effort  must  be  made  to  correct  these  evils. 

There  is  a  widespread  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the 
American  people  that  the  great  corporations  known  as 
trusts  are  in  certain  of  their  features  and  tendencies  hurt 
ful  to  the  general  welfare.  This  springs  from  no  spirit 
of  envy  or  uncharitableness,  nor  lack  of  pride  in  the  great 
industrial  achievements  that  have  placed  this  country  at 
the  head  of  the  nations  struggling  for  commercial  suprem 
acy.  It  does  not  rest  upon  a  lack  of  intelligent  appre 
ciation  of  the  necessity  of  meeting  changing  and  changed 
conditions  of  trade  with  new  methods,  nor  upon  igno 
rance  of  the  fact  that  combination  of  capital  in  the  effort 
to  accomplish  great  things  is  necessary  when  the  world's 
progress  demands  that  great  things  be  done.  It  is  based 
upon  sincere  conviction  that  combination  and  concentra 
tion  should  be,  not  prohibited,  but  supervised  and  within 
reasonable  limits  controlled;  and  in  my  judgment  this 
conviction  is  right. 


296  MESSAGES 

It  is  no  limitation  upon  property  rights  or  freedom  of 
contract  to  require  that  when  men  receive  from  Govern 
ment  the  privilege  of  doing  business  under  corporate 
form,  which  frees  them  from  individual  responsibility, 
and  enables  them  to  call  into  their  enterprises  the  capital 
of  the  public,  they  shall  do  so  upon  absolutely  truthful 
representations  as  to  the  value  of  the  property  in  which 
the  capital  is  to  be  invested.  Corporations  engaged  in 
interstate  commerce  should  be  regulated  if  they  are  found 
to  exercise  a  license  working  to  the  public  injury.  It 
should  be  as  much  the  aim  of  those  who  seek  for  social 
betterment  to  rid  the  business  world  of  crimes  of  cunning 
as  to  rid  the  entire  body  politic  of  crimes  of  violence. 
Great  corporations  exist  only  because  they  are  created 
and  safeguarded  by  our  institutions ;  and  it  is  therefore 
our  right  and  our  duty  to  see  that  they  work  in  harmony 
with  these  institutions. 

The  first  essential  in  determining  how  to  deal  with  the 
great  industrial  combinations  is  knowledge  of  the  facts — 
publicity.  In  the  interest  of  the  public,  the  Government 
should  have  the  right  to  inspect  and  examine  the  work 
ings  of  the  great  corporations  engaged  in  interstate  busi 
ness.  Publicity  is  the  only  sure  remedy  which  we  can 
now  invoke.  What  further  remedies  are  needed  in  the 
way  of  governmental  regulation,  or  taxation,  can  only  be 
determined  after  publicity  has  been  obtained,  by  process 
of  law,  and  in  the  course  of  administration.  The  first 
requisite  is  knowledge,  full  and  complete  —  knowledge 
which  may  be  made  public  to  the  world. 

Artificial  bodies,  such  as  corporations  and  joint-stock 
or  other  associations,  depending  upon  any  statutory  law 
for  their  existence  or  privileges,  should  be  subject  to 
proper  governmental  supervision,  and  full  and  accurate 
information  as  to  their  operations  should  be  made  public 
regularly  at  reasonable  intervals. 

The  large  corporations,  commonly  called  trusts,  though 


CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  297 

organized  in  one  State,  always  do  business  in  many 
States,  often  doing  very  little  business  in  the  State  where 
they  are  incorporated.  There  is  utter  lack  of  uniformity 
in  the  State  laws  about  them ;  and  as  no  State  has  any 
exclusive  interest  in  or  power  over  their  acts,  it  has  in 
practice  proved  impossible  to  get  adequate  regulation 
through  State  action.  Therefore,  in  the  interest  of  the 
whole  people,  the  Nation  should,  without  interfering 
with  the  power  of  the  States  in  the  matter  itself,  also  as 
sume  power  of  supervision  and  regulation  over  all  corpo 
rations  doing  an  interstate  business.  This  is  especially 
true  where  the  corporation  derives  a  portion  of  its  wealth 
from  the  existence  of  some  monopolistic  element  or  ten 
dency  in  its  business.  There  would  be  no  hardship  in 
such  supervision ;  banks  are  subject  to  it,  and  in  their 
case  it  is  now  accepted  as  a  simple  matter  of  course.  In 
deed,  it  is  probable  that  supervision  of  corporations  by 
the  National  Government  need  not  go  so  far  as  is  now 
the  case  with  the  supervision  exercised  over  them  by  so 
conservative  a  State  as  Massachusetts,  in  order  to  pro 
duce  excellent  results. 

When  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  no  human  wisdom  could  foretell  the 
sweeping  changes,  alike  in  industrial  and  political  condi 
tions,  which  were  to  take  place  by  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century.  At  that  time  it  was  accepted  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  the  several  States  were  the  proper 
authorities  to  regulate,  so  far  as  was  then  necessary,  the 
comparatively  insignificant  and  strictly  localized  corporate 
bodies  of  the  day.  The  conditions  are  now  wholly  differ 
ent  and  wholly  different  action  is  called  for.  I  believe 
that  a  law  can  be  framed  which  will  enable  the  National 
Government  to  exercise  control  along  the  lines  above  in 
dicated  ;  profiting  by  the  experience  gained  through  the 
passage  and  administration  of  the  Interstate-Commerce 
Act.  If,  however,  the  judgment  of  the  Congress  is  that 


298  MESSAGES 

it  lacks  the  constitutional  power  to  pass  such  an  act,  then 
a  constitutional  amendment  should  be  submitted  to  confer 
the  power. 

There  should  be  created  a  Cabinet  officer,  to  be  known 
as  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Industries,  as  provided  in 
the  bill  introduced  at  the  last  session  of  the  Congress.  It 
should  be  his  province  to  deal  with  commerce  in  its 
broadest  sense;  including  among  many  other  things 
whatever  concerns  labor  and  all  matters  affecting  the 
great  business  corporations  and  our  merchant  marine. 

The  course  proposed  is  one  phase  of  what  should  be 
a  comprehensive  and  far-reaching  scheme  of  constructive 
statesmanship  for  the  purpose  of  broadening  our  markets, 
securing  our  business  interests  on  a  safe  basis,  and  making 
firm  our  new  position  in  the  international  industrial  world ; 
while  scrupulously  safeguarding  the  rights  of  wage  worker 
and  capitalist,  of  investor  and  private  citizen,  so  as  to 
secure  equity  as  between  man  and  man  in  this  Republic. 

With  the  sole  exception  of  the  farming  interest,  no 
one  matter  is  of  such  vital  moment  to  our  whole  people 
as  the  welfare  of  the  wage  workers.  If  the  farmer  and 
the  wage  worker  are  well  off,  it  is  absolutely  certain  that 
all  others  will  be  well  off  too.  It  is  therefore  a  matter 
for  hearty  congratulation  that  on  the  whole  wages  are 
higher  to-day  in  the  United  States  than  ever  before  in 
our  history,  and  far  higher  than  in  any  other  country. 
The  standard  of  living  is  also  higher  than  ever  before. 
Every  effort  of  legislator  and  administrator  should  be 
bent  to  secure  the  permanency  of  this  condition  of  things 
and  its  improvement  wherever  possible.  Not  only  must 
our  labor  be  protected  by  the  tariff,  but  it  should  also  be 
protected  so  far  as  it  is  possible  from  the  presence  in  this 
country  of  any  laborers  brought  over  by  contract,  or  of 
those  who,  coming  freely,  yet  represent  a  standard  of 
living  so  depressed  that  they  can  undersell  our  men  in  the 
labor  market  and  drag  them  to  a  lower  level.  I  regard  it 


CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  299 

as  necessary,  with  this  end  in  view,  to  re-enact  immedi 
ately  the  law  excluding  Chinese  laborers  and  to  strengthen 
it  wherever  necessary  in  order  to  make  its  enforcement 
entirely  effective. 

The  National  Government  should  demand  the  highest 
quality  of  service  from  its  employees ;  and  in  return  it 
should  be  a  good  employer.  If  possible  legislation  should 
be  passed,  in  connection  with  the  Interstate-Commerce 
Law,  which  will  render  effective  the  efforts  of  different 
States  to  do  away  with  the  competition  of  convict  con 
tract  labor  in  the  open  labor  market.  So  far  as  practi 
cable  under  the  conditions  of  Government  work,  provision 
should  be  made  to  render  the  enforcement  of  the  eight- 
hour  law  easy  and  certain.  In  all  industries  carried  on 
directly  or  indirectly  for  the  United  States  Government 
women  and  children  should  be  protected  from  excessive 
hours  of  labor,  from  night  work,  and  from  work  under 
unsanitary  conditions.  The  Government  should  provide 
in  its  contracts  that  all  work  should  be  done  under  "fair" 
conditions,  and  in  addition  to  setting  a  high  standard 
should  uphold  it  by  proper  inspection,  extending  if  neces 
sary  to  the  sub-contractors.  The  Government  should 
forbid  all  night  work  for  women  and  children,  as  well  as 
excessive  overtime.  For  the  District  of  Columbia  a  good 
factory  law  should  be  passed ;  and,  as  a  powerful  indirect 
aid  to  such  laws,  provision  should  be  made  to  turn  the 
inhabited  alleys,  the  existence  of  which  is  a  reproach  to 
our  Capital  City,  into  minor  streets,  where  the  inhabitants 
can  live  under  conditions  favorable  to  health  and  morals. 

American  wage  workers  work  with  their  heads  as  well 
as  their  hands.  Moreover,  they  take  a  keen  pride  in 
what  they  are  doing;  so  that,  independent  of  the  reward, 
they  wish  to  turn  out  a  perfect  job.  This  is  the  great 
secret  of  our  success  in  competition  with  the  labor  of 
foreign  countries. 

The  most  vital  problem  with  which  this  country,  and 


300 


MESSAGES 


for  that  matter  the  whole  civilized  world,  has  to  deal,  is 
the  problem  which  has  for  one  side  the  betterment  of 
social  conditions,  moral  and  physical,  in  large  cities,  and 
for  another  side  the  effort  to  deal  with  that  tangle  of  far- 
reaching  questions  which  we  group  together  when  we 
speak  of  "labor."  The  chief  factor  in  the  success  of 
each  man — wage  worker,  farmer,  and  capitalist  alike — 
must  ever  be  the  sum  total  of  his  own  individual  qualities 
and  abilities.  Second  only  to  this  comes  the  power  of 
acting  in  combination  or  association  with  others.  Very 
great  good  has  been  and  will  be  accomplished  by  asso 
ciations  or  unions  of  wage  workers,  when  managed  with 
forethought,  and  when  they  combine  insistence  upon  their 
own  rights  with  law-abiding  respect  for  the  rights  of 
others.  The  display  of  these  qualities  in  such  bodies  is 
a  duty  to  the  Nation  no  less  than  to  the  associations 
themselves.  Finally,  there  must  also  in  many  cases  be 
action  by  the  Government  in  order  to  safeguard  the  rights 
and  interests  of  all.  Under  our  Constitution  there  is 
much  more  scope  for  such  action  by  the  State  and  the 
municipality  than  by  the  Nation.  But  on  points  such  as 
those  touched  on  above  the  National  Government  can  act. 
When  all  is  said  and  done,  the  rule  of  brotherhood 
remains  as  the  indispensable  prerequisite  to  success  in  the 
kind  of  national  life  for  which  we  strive.  Each  man  must 
work  for  himself,  and  unless  he  so  works  no  outside  help 
can  avail  him ;  but  each  man  must  remember  also  that 
he  is  indeed  his  brother's  keeper,  and  that  while  no  man 
who  refuses  to  walk  can  be  carried  with  advantage  to 
himself  or  any  one  else,  yet  that  each  at  times  stumbles 
or  halts,  that  each  at  times  needs  to  have  the  helping 
hand  outstretched  to  him.  To  be  permanently  effective, 
aid  must  always  take  the  form  of  helping  a  man  to  help 
himself;  and  we  can  all  best  help  ourselves  by  joining 
together  in  the  work  that  is  of  common  interest  to 
all. 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  301 

Our  present  immigration  laws  are  unsatisfactory.  We 
need  every  honest  and  efficient  immigrant  fitted  to  be 
come  an  American"  citizen,  every  immigrant  who  comes 
here  to  stay,  who  brings  here  a  strong  body,  a  stout 
heart,  a  good  head,  and  a  resolute  purpose  to  do  his  duty 
well  in  every  way  and  to  bring  up  his  children  as  law- 
abiding  and  God-fearing  members  of  the  community. 
But  there  should  be  a  comprehensive  law  enacted  with 
the  object  of  working  a  threefold  improvement  over  our 
present  system.  First,  we  should  aim  to  exclude  abso 
lutely  not  only  all  persons  who  are  known  to  be  believers 
in  anarchistic  principles  or  members  of  anarchistic  so 
cieties,  but  also  all  persons  who  are  of  a  low  moral  ten 
dency  or  of  unsavory  reputation.  This  means  that  we 
should  require  a  more  thorough  system  of  inspection 
abroad  and  a  more  rigid  system  of  examination  at  our 
immigration  ports,  the  former  being  especially  necessary. 

The  second  object  of  a  proper  immigration  law  ought 
to  be  to  secure  by  a  careful  and  not  merely  perfunctory 
educational  test  some  intelligent  capacity  to  appreciate 
American  institutions  and  act  sanely  as  American  citizens. 
This  would  not  keep  out  all  anarchists,  for  many  of  them 
belong  to  the  intelligent  criminal  class.  But  it  would  do 
what  is  also  in  point,  that  is,  tend  to  decrease  the  sum  of 
ignorance,  so  potent  in  producing  the  envy,  suspicion, 
malignant  passion,  and  hatred  of  order,  out  of  which 
anarchistic  sentiment  inevitably  springs.  Finally,  all  per 
sons  should  be  excluded  who  are  below  a  certain  standard 
of  economic  fitness  to  enter  our  industrial  field  as  com 
petitors  with  American  labor.  There  should  be  proper 
proof  of  personal  capacity  to  earn  an  American  living  and 
enough  money  to  insure  a  decent  start  under  American 
conditions.  This  would  stop  the  influx  of  cheap  labor, 
and  the  resulting  competition  which  give  rise  to  so  much 
of  bitterness  in  American  industrial  life ;  and  it  would  dry 
up  the  springs  of  the  pestilential  social  conditions  in  our 


3o2  MESSAGES 

great  cities,   where  anarchistic  organizations  have  their 
greatest  possibility  of  growth. 

Both  the  educational  and  economic  tests  in  a  wise  im 
migration  law  should  be  designed  to  protect  and  elevate 
the  general  body  politic  and  social.  A  very  close  super 
vision  should  be  exercised  over  the  steamship  companies 
which  mainly  bring  over  the  immigrants,  and  they  should 
be  held  to  a  strict  accountability  for  any  infraction  of  the 
law. 

There  is  general  acquiescence  in  our  present  tariff  sys 
tem  as  a  national  policy.  The  first  requisite  to  our 
prosperity  is  the  continuity  and  stability  of  this  economic 
policy.  Nothing  could  be  more  unwise  than  to  disturb 
the  business  interests  of  the  country  by  any  general  tariff 
change  at  this  time.  Doubt,  apprehension,  uncertainty 
are  exactly  what  we  most  wish  to  avoid  in  the  interest  of 
our  commercial  and  material  well-being.  Our  experience 
in  the  past  has  shown  that  sweeping  revisions  of  the 
tariff  are  apt  to  produce  conditions  closely  approaching 
panic  in  the  business  world.  Yet  it  is  not  only  possible, 
but  eminently  desirable,  to  combine  with  the  stability  of 
our  economic  system  a  supplementary  system  of  recipro 
cal  benefit  and  obligation  with  other  nations.  Such 
reciprocity  is  an  incident  and  result  of  the  firm  establish 
ment  and  preservation  of  our  present  economic  policy. 
It  was  specially  provided  for  in  the  present  tariff  law. 

Reciprocity  must  be  treated  as  the  handmaiden  of  pro 
tection.  Our  first  duty  is  to  see  that  the  protection 
granted  by  the  tariff  in  every  case  where  it  is  needed  is 
maintained,  and  that  reciprocity  be  sought  for  so  far  as  it 
can  safely  be  done  without  injury  to  our  home  industries. 
Just  how  far  this  is  must  be  determined  according  to  the 
individual  case,  remembering  always  that  every  applica 
tion  of  our  tariff  policy  to  meet  our  shifting  national 
needs  must  be  conditioned  upon  the  cardinal  fact  that  the 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION          303 

duties  must  never  be  reduced  below  the  point  that  will 
cover  the  difference  between  the  labor  cost  here  and 
abroad.  The  well-being  of  the  wage  worker  is  a  prime 
consideration  of  our  entire  policy  of  economic  legislation. 

Subject  to  this  proviso  of  the  proper  protection  neces 
sary  to  our  industrial  well-being  at  home,  the  principle 
of  reciprocity  must  command  our  hearty  support.  The 
phenomenal  growth  of  our  export  trade  emphasizes  the 
urgency  of  the  need  for  wider  markets  and  for  a  liberal 
policy  in  dealing  with  foreign  nations.  Whatever  is 
merely  petty  and  vexatious  in  the  way  of  trade  restric 
tions  should  be  avoided.  The  customers  to  whom  we 
dispose  of  our  surplus  products,  in  the  long  run,  directly 
or  indirectly,  purchase  those  surplus  products  by  giving 
us  something  in  return.  Their  ability  to  purchase  our 
products  should  as  far  as  possible  be  secured  by  so  arrang 
ing  our  tariff  as  to  enable  us  to  take  from  them  those 
products  which  we  can  use  without  harm  to  our  own  in 
dustries  and  labor,  or  the  use  of  which  will  be  of  marked 
benefit  to  us. 

It  is  most  important  that  we  should  maintain  the  high 
level  of  our  present  prosperity.  We  have  now  reached 
the  point  in  the  development  of  our  interests  where  we 
are  not  only  able  to  supply  our  own  markets  but  to  pro 
duce  a  constantly  growing  surplus  for  which  we  must  find 
markets  abroad.  To  secure  these  markets  we  can  utilize 
existing  duties  in  any  case  where  they  are  no  longer 
needed  for  the  purpose  of  protection,  or  in  any  case 
where  the  article  is  not  produced  here  and  the  duty  is  no 
longer  necessary  for  revenue,  as  giving  us  something  to 
offer  in  exchange  for  what  we  ask.  The  cordial  relations 
with  other  nations  which  are  so  desirable  will  naturally 
be  promoted  by  the  course  thus  required  by  our  own 
interests. 

The  natural  line  of  development  for  a  policy  of  reci 
procity  will  be  in  connection  with  those  of  our  productions 


304  MESSAGES 

which  no  longer  require  all  of  the  support  once  needed  to 
establish  them  upon  a  sound  basis,  and  with  those  others 
where  either  because  of  natural  or  of  economic  causes  we 
are  beyond  the  reach  of  successful  competition. 

I  ask  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  reciprocity 
treaties  laid  before  it  by  my  predecessor. 

The  condition  of  the  American  merchant  marine  is  such 
as  to  call  for  immediate  remedial  action  by  the  Congress. 
It  is  discreditable  to  us  as  a  Nation  that  our  merchant 
marine  should  be  utterly  insignificant  in  comparison  to 
that  of  other  nations  which  we  overtop  in  other  forms  of 
business.  We  should  not  longer  submit  to  conditions 
under  which  only  a  trifling  portion  of  our  great  commerce 
is  carried  in  our  own  ships.  To  remedy  this  state  of 
things  would  not  merely  serve  to  build  up  our  shipping 
interests,  but  it  would  also  result  in  benefit  to  all  who 
are  interested  in  the  permanent  establishment  of  a  wider 
market  for  American  products,  and  would  provide  an 
auxiliary  force  for  the  Navy.  Ships  work  for  their  own 
countries  just  as  railroads  work  for  their  terminal  points. 
Shipping  lines,  if  established  to  the  principal  countries 
with  which  we  have  dealings,  would  be  of  political  as  well 
as  commercial  benefit.  From  every  standpoint  it  is  un 
wise  for  the  United  States  to  continue  to  rely  upon  the 
ships  of  competing  nations  for  the  distribution  of  our 
goods.  It  should  be  made  advantageous  to  carry  Ameri 
can  goods  in  American-built  ships. 

At  present  American  shipping  is  under  certain  great 
disadvantages  when  put  in  competition  with  the  shipping 
of  foreign  countries.  Many  of  the  fast  foreign  steam 
ships,  at  a  speed  of  fourteen  knots  or  above,  are  sub 
sidized  ;  and  all  our  ships,  sailing  vessels  and  steamers 
alike,  cargo  carriers  of  slow  speed  and  mail  carriers  of 
high  speed,  have  to  meet  the  fact  that  the  original  cost 
of  building  American  ships  is  greater  than  is  the  case 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION          305 

abroad ;  that  the  wages  paid  American  officers  and  sea 
men  are  very  much  higher  than  those  paid  the  officers 
and  seamen  of  foreign  competing  countries ;  and  that  the 
standard  of  living  on  our  ships  is  far  superior  to  the 
standard  of  living  on  the  ships  of  our  commercial  rivals. 

Our  Government  should  take  such  action  as  will 
remedy  these  inequalities.  The  American  merchant 
marine  should  be  restored  to  the  ocean. 

The  Act  of  March  14,  1900,  intended  unequivocally  to 
establish  gold  as  the  standard  money  and  to  maintain  at 
a  parity  therewith  all  forms  of  money  medium  in  use  with 
us,  has  been  shown  to  be  timely  and  judicious.  The 
price  of  our  Government  bonds  in  the  world's  market, 
when  compared  with  the  price  of  similar  obligations 
issued  by  other  nations,  is  a  flattering  tribute  to  our  pub 
lic  credit.  This  condition  it  is  evidently  desirable  to 
maintain. 

In  many  respects  the  National  Banking  Law  furnishes 
sufficient  liberty  for  the  proper  exercise  of  the  banking 
function  ;  but  there  seems  to  be  need  of  better  safeguards 
against  the  deranging  influence  of  commercial  crises  and 
financial  panics.  Moreover,  the  currency  of  the  country 
should  be  made  responsive  to  the  demands  of  our  domes 
tic  trade  and  commerce. 

The  collections  from  duties  on  imports  and  internal 
taxes  continue  to  exceed  the  ordinary  expenditures  of 
the  Government,  thanks  mainly  to  the  reduced  army  ex 
penditures.  The  utmost  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
reduce  the  revenues  so  that  there  will  be  any  possibility 
of  a  deficit;  but,  after  providing  against  any  such  con 
tingency,  means  should  be  adopted  which  will  bring  the 
revenues  more  nearly  within  the  limit  of  our  actual  needs. 
In  his  report  to  the  Congress  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  considers  all  these  questions  at  length,  and  I  ask  your 
attention  to  the  report  and  recommendations. 


3o6  MESSAGES 

I  call  special  attention  to  the  need  of  strict  economy  in 
expenditures.  The  fact  that  our  national  needs  forbid 
us  to  be  niggardly  in  providing  whatever  is  actually 
necessary  to  our  well-being,  should  make  us  doubly  care 
ful  to  husband  our  national  resources,  as  each  of  us 
husbands  his  private  resources,  by  scrupulous  avoidance 
of  anything  like  wasteful  or  reckless  expenditure.  Only 
by  avoidance  of  spending  money  on  what  is  needless  or 
unjustifiable  can  we  legitimately  keep  our  income  to  the 
point  required  to  meet  our  needs  that  are  genuine. 

In  1887  a  measure  was  enacted  for  the  regulation  of 
interstate  railways,  commonly  known  as  the  Interstate- 
Commerce  Act.  The  cardinal  provisions  of  that  act  were 
that  railway  rates  should  be  just  and  reasonable  and  that 
all  shippers,  localities,  and  commodities  should  be  ac 
corded  equal  treatment.  A  commission  was  created  and 
endowed  with  what  were  supposed  to  be  the  necessary 
powers  to  execute  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

That  law  was  largely  an  experiment.  Experience  has 
shown  the  wisdom  of  its  purposes,  but  has  also  shown, 
possibly,  that  some  of  its  requirements  are  wrong,  cer 
tainly  that  the  means  devised  for  the  enforcement  of  its 
provisions  are  defective.  Those  who  complain  of  the 
management  of  the  railways  allege  that  established  rates 
are  not  maintained ;  that  rebates  and  similar  devices  are 
habitually  resorted  to ;  that  these  preferences  are  usually 
in  favor  of  the  large  shipper ;  that  they  drive  out  of  busi 
ness  the  smaller  competitor;  that  while  many  rates  are 
too  low,  many  others  are  excessive ;  and  that  gross  pref 
erences  are  made,  affecting  both  localities  and  com 
modities.  Upon  the  other  hand,  the  railways  assert  that 
the  law  by  its  very  terms  tends  to  produce  many  of 
these  illegal  practices  by  depriving  carriers  of  that  right 
of  concerted  action  which  they  claim  is  necessary  to 
establish  and  maintain  non-discriminating  rates. 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION          307 

The  act  should  be  amended.  The  railway  is  a  public 
servant.  Its  rates  should  be  just  to  and  open  to  all 
shippers  alike.  The  Government  should  see  to  it  that 
within  its  jurisdiction  this  is  so  and  should  provide  a 
speedy,  inexpensive,  and  effective  remedy  to  that  end. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  our  rail 
ways  are  the  arteries  through  which  the  commercial  life- 
blood  of  this  Nation  flows.  Nothing  could  be  more 
foolish  than  the  enactment  of  legislation  which  would 
unnecessarily  interfere  with  the  development  and  opera 
tion  of  these  commercial  agencies.  The  subject  is  one  of 
great  importance  and  calls  for  the  earnest  attention  of  the 
Congress. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  during  the  past  fifteen 
years  has  steadily  broadened  its  work  on  economic  lines, 
and  has  accomplished  results  of  real  value  in  upbuilding 
domestic  and  foreign  trade.  It  has  gone  into  new  fields 
until  it  is  now  in  touch  with  all  sections  of  our  country 
and  with  two  of  the  island  groups  that  have  lately  come 
under  our  jurisdiction,  whose  people  must  look  to  agri 
culture  as  a  livelihood.  It  is  searching  the  world  for 
grains,  grasses,  fruits,  and  vegetables  specially  fitted  for 
introduction  into  localities  in  the  several  States  and  Ter 
ritories  where  they  may  add  materially  to  our  resources. 
By  scientific  attention  to  soil  survey  and  possible  new 
crops,  to  breeding  of  new  varieties  of  plants,  to  experi 
mental  shipments,  to  animal  industry  and  applied  chem 
istry,  very  practical  aid  has  been  given  our  farming  and 
stock-growing  interests.  The  products  of  the  farm  have 
taken  an  unprecedented  place  in  our  export  trade  during 
the  year  that  has  just  closed. 

Public  opinion  throughout  the  United  States  has  moved 
steadily  toward  a  just  appreciation  of  the  value  of  forests, 
whether  planted  or  of  natural  growth.  The  great  part 


MESSAGES 


played  by  them  in  the  creation  and  maintenance  of  the 
national  wealth  is  now  more  fully  realized  than  ever 
_J)efore. 

Wise  forest  protection  does  not  mean  the  withdrawal 
of  forest  resources,  whether  of  wood,  water,  or  grass, 
from  contributing  their  full  share  to  the  welfare  of  the 
people,  but,  on  the  contrary,  gives  the  assurance  of 
larger  and  more  certain  supplies.  The  fundamental  idea 
of  forestry  is  the  perpetuation  of  forests  by  use.  Forest 
protection  is  not  an  end  of  itself ;  it  is  a  means  to  increase 
and  sustain  the  resources  of  our  country  and  the  indus 
tries  which  depend  upon  them.  The  preservation  of  our 
forests  is  an  imperative  business  necessity.  We  have 
come  to  see  clearly  that  whatever  destroys  the  forest, 
except  to  make  way  for  agriculture,  threatens  our  well- 
being. 

The  practical  usefulness  of  the  national  forest  reserves  to 
the  mining,  grazing,  irrigation,  and  other  interests  of  the 
regions  in  which  the  reserves  lie  has  led  to  a  widespread 
demand  by  the  people  of  the  West  for  their  protection 
and  extension.  The  forest  reserves  will  inevitably  be  of 
still  greater  use  in  the  future  than  in  the  past.  Additions 
should  be  made  to  them  whenever  practicable,  and  their 
usefulness  should  be  increased  by  a  thoroughly  business 
like  management. 

At  present  the  protection  of  the  forest  reserves  rests 
with  the  General  Land  Office,  the  mapping  and  descrip 
tion  of  their  timber  with  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  and  the  preparation  of  plans  for  their  conserva 
tive  use  with  the  Bureau  of  Forestry,  which  is  also  charged 
with  the  general  advancement  of  practical  forestry  in  the 
United  States.  These  various  functions  should  be  united 
in  the  Bureau  of  Forestry,  to  which  they  properly  belong. 
The  present  diffusion  of  responsibility  is  bad  from  every 
standpoint.  It  prevents  that  effective  co-operation  be 
tween  the  Government  and  the  men  who  utilize  the  re- 


SJTH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION          309 

sources  of  the  reserves,  without  which  the  interests  of 
both  must  suffer.  The  scientific  bureaus  generally  should 
be  put  under  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  The  Presi 
dent  should  have  by  law  the  power  of  transferring  lands 
for  use  as  forest  reserves  to  the  Department  of  Agricul 
ture.  He  already  has  such  power  in  the  case  of  lands 
needed  by  the  Departments  of  War  and  the  Navy. 

The  wise  administration  of  the  forest  reserves  will  be 
not  less  helpful  to  the  interests  which  depend  on  water 
than  to  those  which  depend  on  wood  and  grass.  The 
water  supply  itself  depends  upon  the  forest.  In  the  arid 
region  it  is  water,  not  land,  which  measures  production. 
The  western  half  of  the  United  States  would  sustain  a 
population  greater  than  that  of  our  whole  country  to-day 
if  the  waters  that  now  run  to  waste  were  saved  and  used 
for  irrigation.  The  forest  and  water  problems  are  per 
haps  the  most  vital  internal  questions  of  the  United 
States. 

Certain  of  the  forest  reserves  should  also  be  made  pre 
serves  for  the  wild  forest  creatures.  All  of  the  reserves 
should  be  better  protected  from  fires.  Many  of  them 
need  special  protection  because  of  the  great  injury  done 
by  live  stock,  above  all  by  sheep.  The  increase  in  deer, 
elk,  and  other  animals  in  the  Yellowstone  Park  shows 
what  may  be  expected  when  other  mountain  forests  are 
properly  protected  by  law  and  properly  guarded.  Some 
of  these  areas  have  been  so  denuded  of  surface  vegeta 
tion  by  overgrazing  that  the  ground-breeding  birds,  in 
cluding  grouse  and  quail,  and  many  mammals,  including 
deer,  have  been  exterminated  or  driven  away.  At  the 
same  time  the  water-storing  capacity  of  the  surface  has 
been  decreased  or  destroyed,  thus  promoting  floods  in 
times  of  rain  and  diminishing  the  flow  of  streams  between 
rains. 

In  cases  where  natural  conditions  have  been  restored 
for  a  few  years,  vegetation  has  again  carpeted  the  ground, 


3io  MESSAGES 

birds  and  deer  are  coming  back,  and  hundreds  of  persons, 
especially  from  the  immediate  neighborhood,  come  each 
summer  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  camping.  Some  at  least 
of  the  forest  reserves  should  afford  perpetual  protection 
to  the  native  fauna  and  flora,  safe  havens  of  refuge  to  our 
rapidly  diminishing  wild  animals  of  the  larger  kinds,  and 
free  camping  grounds  for  the  ever-increasing  numbers  of 
men  and  women  who  have  learned  to  find  rest,  health, 
and  recreation  in  the  splendid  forests  and  flower-clad 
meadows  of  our  mountains.  The  forest  reserves  should 
be  set  apart  forever  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  our  people 
as  a  whole  and  not  sacrificed  to  the  short-sighted  greed  of 
a  few. 

The  forests  are  natural  reservoirs.  By  restraining  the 
streams  in  flood  and  replenishing  them  in  drought  they 
make  possible  the  use  of  waters  otherwise  wasted.  They 
prevent  the  soil  from  washing,  and  so  protect  the  storage 
reservoirs  from  filling  up  with  silt.  Forest  conservation 
is  therefore  an  essential  condition  of  water  conservation. 

The  forests  alone  cannot,  however,  fully  regulate  and 
conserve  the  waters  of  the  arid  region.  Great  storage 
works  are  necessary  to  equalize  the  flow  of  streams  and 
to  save  the  flood  waters.  Their  construction  has  been 
conclusively  shown  to  be  an  undertaking  too  vast  for 
private  effort.  Nor  can  it  be  best  accomplished  by  the 
individual  States  acting  alone.  Far-reaching  interstate 
problems  are  involved ;  and  the  resources  of  single  States 
would  often  be  inadequate.  It  is  properly  a  national 
function,  at  least  in  some  of  its  features.  It  is  as  right 
for  the  National  Government  to  make  the  streams  and 
rivers  of  the  arid  region  useful  by  engineering  works  for 
water  storage  as  to  make  useful  the  rivers  and  harbors  of 
the  humid  region  by  engineering  works  of  another  kind. 
The  storing  of  the  floods  in  reservoirs  at  the  headwaters 
of  our  rivers  is  but  an  enlargement  of  our  present  policy 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  3 1 1 

of  river  control,  under  which  levees  are  built  on  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  same  streams. 

The  Government  should  construct  and  maintain  these 
reservoirs  as  it  does  other  public  works.  Where  their 
purpose  is  to  regulate  the  flow  of  streams,  the  water 
should  be  turned  freely  into  the  channels  in  the  dry  season 
to  take  the  same  course  under  the  same  laws  as  the  natural 
flow. 

The  reclamation  of  the  unsettled  arid  public  lands  pre 
sents  a  different  problem.  Here  it  is  not  enough  to 
regulate  the  flow  of  streams.  The  object  of  the  Govern 
ment  is  to  dispose  of  the  land  to  settlers  who  will  build 
homes  upon  it.  To  accomplish  this  object  water  must 
be  brought  within  their  reach. 

The  pioneer  settlers  on  the  arid  public  domain  chose 
their  homes  along  streams  from  which  they  could  them 
selves  divert  the  water  to  reclaim  their  holdings.  Such 
opportunities  are  practically  gone.  There  remain,  how 
ever,  vast  areas  of  public  land  which  can  be  made  avail 
able  for  homestead  settlement,  but  only  by  reservoirs  and 
main-line  canals  impracticable  for  private  enterprise. 
These  irrigation  works  should  be  built  by  the  National 
Government.  The  lands  reclaimed  by  them  should  be 
reserved  by  the  Government  for  actual  settlers,  and  the 
cost  of  construction  should  so  far  as  possible  be  repaid  by 
the  land  reclaimed.  The  distribution  of  the  water,  the 
division  of  the  streams  among  irrigators,  should  be  left  to 
the  settlers  themselves  in  conformity  with  State  laws  and 
without  interference  with  those  laws  or  with  vested  rights. 
The  policy  of  the  National  Government  should  be  to  aid 
irrigation  in  the  several  States  and  Territories  in  such 
manner  as  will  enable  the  people  in  the  local  communities 
to  help  themselves,  and  as  will  stimulate  needed  reforms 
in  the  State  laws  and  regulations  governing  irrigation. 

The  reclamation  and  settlement  of  the  arid  lands  will 
enrich  every  portion  of  our  country,  just  as  the  settlement 


3i2  MESSAGES 

of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys  brought  prosperity  to 
the  Atlantic  States.  The  increased  demand  for  manufac 
tured  articles  will  stimulate  industrial  production,  while 
wider  home  markets  and  the  trade  of  Asia  will  consume 
the  larger  food  supplies  and  effectually  prevent  Western 
competition  with  Eastern  agriculture.  Indeed,  the  pro 
ducts  of  irrigation  will  be  consumed  chiefly  in  upbuilding 
local  centres  of  mining  and  other  industries,  which  would 
otherwise  not  come  into  existence  at  all.  Our  people  as 
a  whole  will  profit,  for  successful  home-making  is  but 
another  name  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  Nation. 

The  necessary  foundation  has  already  been  laid  for  the 
inauguration  of  the  policy  just  described.  It  would  be 
unwise  to  begin  by  doing  too  much,  for  a  great  deal  will 
doubtless  be  learned,  both  as  to  what  can  and  what  cannot 
be  safely  attempted,  by  the  early  efforts,  which  must  of 
necessity  be  partly  experimental  in  character.  At  the 
very  beginning  the  Government  should  make  clear,  be 
yond  shadow  of  doubt,  its  intention  to  pursue  this  policy 
on  lines  of  the  broadest  public  interest.  No  reservoir  or 
canal  should  ever  be  built  to  satisfy  selfish  personal  or 
local  interests;  but  only  in  accordance  with  the  advice 
of  trained  experts,  after  long  investigation  has  shown  the 
locality  where  all  the  conditions  combine  to  make  the 
work  most  needed  and  fraught  with  the  greatest  useful 
ness  to  the  community  as  a  whole.  There  should  be  no 
extravagance,  and  the  believers  in  the  need  of  irrigation 
will  most  benefit  their  cause  by  seeing  to  it  that  it  is  free 
from  the  least  taint  of  excessive  or  reckless  expenditure 
of  the  public  moneys. 

Whatever  the  Nation  does  for  the  extension  of  irriga 
tion  should  harmonize  with,  and  tend  to  improve,  the 
condition  of  those  now  living  on  irrigated  land.  We  are 
not  at  the  starting-point  of  this  development.  Over  two 
hundred  millions  of  private  capital  has  already  been  ex-  4 
pended  in  the  construction  of  irrigation  works,  and  many 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  iS  T  SESSION  3 1 3 

million  acres  of  arid  land  reclaimed.  A  high  degree  of 
enterprise  and  ability  has  been  shown  in  the  work  itself; 
but  as  much  cannot  be  said  in  reference  to  the  laws  re 
lating  thereto.  The  security  and  value  of  the  homes 
created  depend  largely  on  the  stability  of  titles  to  water; 
but  the  majority  of  these  rest  on  the  uncertain  founda 
tion  of  court  decisions  rendered  in  ordinary  suits  at  law. 
With  a  few  creditable  exceptions,  the  arid  States  have 
failed  to  provide  for  the  certain  and  just  division  of 
streams  in  times  of  scarcity.  Lax  and  uncertain  laws 
have  made  it  possible  to  establish  rights  to  water  in  excess 
of  actual  uses  or  necessities,  and  many  streams  have 
already  passed  into  private  ownership,  or  a  control  equiva 
lent  to  ownership. 

Whoever  controls  a  stream  practically  controls  the  land 
it  renders  productive,  and  the  doctrine  of  private  owner 
ship  of  water  apart  from  land  cannot  prevail  without 
causing  enduring  wrong.  The  recognition  of  such  owner 
ship,  which  has  been  permitted  to  grow  up  in  the  arid 
regions,  should  give  way  to  a  more  enlightened  and  larger 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  public  in  the  control  and 
disposal  of  the  public  water  supplies.  Laws  founded 
upon  conditions  obtaining  in  humid  regions,  where  water 
is  too  abundant  to  justify  hoarding  it,  have  no  proper 
application  in  a  dry  country. 

In  the  arid  States  the  only  right  to  water  which  should 
be  recognized  is  that  of  use.  In  irrigation  this  right 
should  attach  to  the  land  reclaimed  and  be  inseparable 
therefrom.  Granting  perpetual  water  rights  to  others 
than  users,  without  compensation  to  the  public,  is  open 
to  all  the  objections  which  apply  to  giving  away  perpetual 
franchises  to  the  public  utilities  of  cities.  A  few  of  the 
Western  States  have  already  recognized  this,  and  have 
incorporated  in  their  constitutions  the  doctrine  of  per 
petual  State  ownership  of  water. 

The  benefits  which  have  followed  the  unaided  develop- 


314 


MESSAGES 


ment  of  the  past  justify  the  Nation's  aid  and  co-operation 
in  the  more  difficult  and  important  work  yet  to  be  accom 
plished.  Laws  so  vitally  affecting  homes  as  those  which 
control  the  water  supply  will  only  be  effective  when  they 
have  the  sanction  of  the  irrigators ;  reforms  can  only  be 
final  and  satisfactory  when  they  come  through  the  en 
lightenment  of  the  people  most  concerned.  The  larger 
development  which  national  aid  insures  should,  however, 
awaken  in  every  arid  State  the  determination  to  make  its 
irrigation  system  equal  in  justice  and  effectiveness  that  of 
any  country  in  the  civilized  world.  Nothing  could  be 
more  unwise  than  for  isolated  communities  to  continue 
to  learn  everything  experimentally,  instead  of  profiting 
by  what  is  already  known  elsewhere.  We  are  dealing 
with  a  new  and  momentous  question,  in  the  pregnant 
years  while  institutions  are  forming,  and  what  we  do  will 
affect  not  only  the  present  but  future  generations. 

Our  aim  should  be  not  simply  to  reclaim  the  largest 
area  of  land  and  provide  homes  for  the  largest  number  of 
people,  but  to  create  for  this  new  industry  the  best  pos 
sible  social  and  industrial  conditions;  and  this  requires 
that  we  not  only  understand  the  existing  situation,  but 
avail  ourselves  of  the  best  experience  of  the  time  in  the 
solution  of  its  problems.  A  careful  study  should  be 
made,  by  both  the  Nation  and  the  States,  of  the  irriga 
tion  laws  and  conditions  here  and  abroad.  Ultimately  it 
will  probably  be  necessary  for  the  Nation  to  co-operate 
with  the  several  arid  States  in  proportion  as  these  States 
by  their  legislation  and  administration  show  themselves 
fit  to  receive  it. 

In  Hawaii  our  aim  must  be  to  develop  the  Territory  on 
the  traditional  American  lines.  We  do  not  wish  a  region 
of  large  estates  tilled  by  cheap  labor ;  we  wish  a  healthy 
American  community  of  men  who  themselves  till  the 
farms  they  own.  All  our  legislation  for  the  islands  should 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  3 1 5 

be  shaped  with  this  end  in  view ;  the  well-being  of  the 
average  home-maker  must  afford  the  true  test  of  the 
healthy  development  of  the  islands.  The  land  policy 
should  as  nearly  as  possible  be  modelled  on  our  home 
stead  system. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  say  that  it  is  hardly  more  necessary 
to  report  as  to  Porto  Rico  than  as  to  any  State  or  Terri 
tory  within  our  continental  limits.  The  island  is  thriving 
as  never  before,  and  it  is  being  administered  efficiently  and 
honestly.  Its  people  are  now  enjoying  liberty  and  order 
under  the  protection  of  the  United  States,  and  upon  this 
fact  we  congratulate  them  and  ourselves.  Their  material 
welfare  must  be  as  carefully  and  jealously  considered  as 
the  welfare  of  any  other  portion  of  our  country.  We 
have  given  them  the  great  gift  of  free  access  for  their  pro 
ducts  to  the  markets  of  the  United  States.  I  ask  the 
attention  of  the  Congress  to  the  need  of  legislation  con 
cerning  the  public  lands  of  Porto  Rico. 

In  Cuba  such  progress  has  been  made  toward  putting 
the  independent  government  of  the  island  upon  a  firm 
footing  that  before  the  present  session  of  the  Congress 
closes  this  will  be  an  accomplished  fact.  Cuba  will  then 
start  as  her  own  mistress;  and  to  the  beautiful  Queen  of 
the  Antilles,  as  she  unfolds  this  new  page  of  her  destiny, 
we  extend  our  heartiest  greetings  and  good  wishes.  Else 
where  I  have  discussed  the  question  of  reciprocity.  In 
the  case  of  Cuba,  however,  there  are  weighty  reasons  of 
morality  and  of  national  interest  why  the  policy  should 
be  held  to  have  a  peculiar  application,  and  I  most  earn 
estly  ask  your  attention  to  the  wisdom,  indeed  to  the 
vital  need,  of  providing  for  a  substantial  reduction  in  the 
tariff  duties  on  Cuban  imports  into  the  United  States. 
Cuba  has  in  her  constitution  affirmed  what  we  desired, 
that  she  should  stand,  in  international  matters,  in  closer 
and  more  friendly  relations  with  us  than  with  any  other 
power ;  and  we  are  bound  by  every  consideration  of  honor 


316  MESSAGES 

and  expediency  to  pass  commercial  measures  in  the 
interest  of  her  material  well-being. 

In  the  Philippines  our  problem  is  larger.  They  are 
very  rich  tropical  islands,  inhabited  by  many  varying 
tribes,  representing  widely  different  stages  of  progress 
toward  civilization.  Our  earnest  effort  is  to  help  these 
people  upward  along  the  stony  and  difficult  path  that 
leads  to  self-government.  We  hope  to  make  our  admin 
istration  of  the  islands  honorable  to  our  Nation  by  making 
it  of  the  highest  benefit  to  the  Filipinos  themselves;  and 
as  an  earnest  of  what  we  intend  to  do,  we  point  to  what 
we  have  done.  Already  a  greater  measure  of  material 
prosperity  and  of  governmental  honesty  and  efficiency 
has  been  attained  in  the  Philippines  than  ever  before  in 
their  history. 

It  is  no  light  task  for  a  nation  to  achieve  the  tempera 
mental  qualities  without  which  the  institutions  of  free 
government  are  but  an  empty  mockery.  Our  people  are 
now  successfully  governing  themselves,  because  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  they  have  been  slowly  fitting  them 
selves,  sometimes  consciously,  sometimes  unconsciously, 
toward  this  end.  What  has  taken  us  thirty  generations 
to  achieve,  we  cannot  expect  to  see  another  race  accom 
plish  out  of  hand, /especially  when  large  portions  of  that 
race  start  very  far  behind  the  point  which  our  ancestors 
had  reached  even  thirty  generations  ago.  \  In  dealing 
with  the  Philippine  people  we  must  show  both  patience 
and  strength,  forbearance  and  steadfast  resolution.  Our 
aim  is  high.  We  do  not  desire  to  do  for  the  islanders 
merely  what  has  elsewhere  been  done  for  tropic  peoples 
by  even  the  best  foreign  governments.  We  hope  to  do 
for  them  what  has  never  before  been  done  for  any  people 
of  the  tropics— to  make  them  fit  for  self-government  after 
the  fashion  of  the  really  free  nations. 

History  may  safely  be  challenged  to  show  a  single  in 
stance  in  which  a  masterful  race  such  as  ours,  having  been 


tf  TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  317 

forced  by  the  exigencies  of  war  to  take  possession  of  an 
alien  land,  has  behaved  to  its  inhabitants  with  the  disin 
terested  zeal  for  their  progress  that  our  people  have  shown 
in  the  Philippines.  To  leave  the  islands  at  this  time 
would  mean  that  they  would  fall  into  a  welter  of  murder 
ous  anarchy.  Such  desertion  of  duty  on  our  part  would 
be  a  crime  against  humanity.  The  character  of  Governor 
Taft  and  of  his  associates  and  subordinates  is  a  proof,  if 
such  be  needed,  of  the  sincerity  of  our  effort  to  give  the 
islanders  a  constantly  increasing  measure  of  self-govern 
ment,  exactly  as  fast  as  they  show  themselves  fit  to  exer 
cise  it.  Since  the  civil  government  was  established  not 
an  appointment  has  been  made  in  the  islands  with  any 
reference  to  considerations  of  political  influence,  or  to 
aught  else  save  the  fitness  of  the  man  and  the  needs  of 
the  service. 

In  our  anxiety  for  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the 
Philippines,  it  may  be  that  here  and  there  we  have  gone 
too  rapidly  in  giving  them  local  self-government.  It  is 
on  this  side  that  our  error,  if  any,  has  been  committed. 
No  competent  observer,  sincerely  desirous  of  finding  out 
the  facts  and  influenced  only  by  a  desire  for  the  welfare 
of  the  natives,  can  assert  that  we  have  not  gone  far 
enough.  We  have  gone  to  the  very  verge  of  safety  in 
hastening  the  process.  To  have  taken  a  single  step 
farther  or  faster  in  advance  would  have  been  folly  and 
weakness,  and  might  well  have  been  crime.  We  are  ex 
tremely  anxious  that  the  natives  shall  show  the  power  of 
governing  themselves.  We  are  anxious,  first  for  their 
sakes,  and  next,  because  it  relieves  us  of  a  great  burden/ 
There  need  not  be  the  slightest  fear  of  our  not  continuing 
to  give  them  all  the  liberty  for  which  they  are  fit. 

The  only  fear  is  lest  in  our  over-anxiety  we  give  them  a 
degree  of  independence  for  which  they  are  unfit,  thereby 
inviting  reaction  and  disaster.;  As  fast  as  there  is  any 
reasonable  hope  that  in  a  given  district  the  people  can 


3i8  MESSAGES 

govern  themselves,  self-government  has  been  given  in 
that  district.  There  is  not  a  locality  fitted  for  self- 
government  which  has  not  received  it.  But  it  may  well 
be  that  in  certain  cases  it  will  have  to  be  withdrawn  be 
cause  the  inhabitants  show  themselves  unfit  to  exercise 
it;  such  instances  have  already  occurred.  \n  other 
words,  there  is  not  the  slightest  chance  of  our  failing 
to  show  a  sufficiently  humanitarian  spirit.  The  danger 
comes  in  the  opposite  direction.  ^ 

There  are  still  troubles  ahead  in  the  islands.  The 
insurrection  has  become  an  affair  of  local  banditti  and 
marauders,  who  deserve  no  higher  regard  than  the  brig 
ands  of  portions  of  the  Old  World.  Encouragement, 
direct  or  indirect,  to  these  insurrectos  stands  on  the  same 
footing  as  encouragement  to  hostile  Indians  in  the  days 
when  we  still  had  Indian  wars.  Exactly  as  our  aim  is  to 
give  to  the  Indian  who  remains  peaceful  the  fullest  and 
amplest  consideration,  but  to  have  it  understood  that  we 
will  show  no  weakness  if  he  goes  on  the  warpath,  so  we 
must  make  it  evident,  unless  we  are  false  to  our  own 
traditions  and  to  the  demands  of  civilization  and  human 
ity,  that  while  we  will  do  everything  in  our  power  for  the 
Filipino  who  is  peaceful,  we  will  take  the  sternest  meas 
ures  with  the  Filipino  who  follows  the  path  of  the  insur- 
recto  and  the  ladrone. 

The  heartiest  praise  is  due  to  large  numbers  of  the 
natives  of  the  islands  for  their  steadfast  loyalty.  The 
Macabebes  have  been  conspicuous  for  their  courage  and 
devotion  to  the  flag.  I  recommend  that  the  Secretary  of 
War  be  empowered  to  take  some  systematic  action  in  the 
way  of  aiding  those  of  these  men  who  are  crippled  in  the 
service  and  the  families  of  those  who  are  killed. 
\The  time  has  come  when  there  should  be  additional 
legislation  for  the  Philippines.  Nothing  better  can  be 
done  for  the  islands  than  to  introduce  industrial  enter 
prises.  Nothing  would  benefit  them  so  much  as  throwing 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  319 

them  open  to  industrial  development.  The  connection 
between  idleness  and  mischief  is  proverbial,  and  the  oppor 
tunity  to  do  remunerative  work  is  one  of  the  surest  pre 
ventives  of  war.  Of  course  no  business  man  will  go  into 
the  Philippines  unless  it  is  to  his  interest  to  do  so ;  and  it 
is  immensely  to  the  interest  of  the  islands  that  he  should 
go  in.  It  is  therefore  necessary  that  the  Congress  should 
pass  laws  by  which  the  resources  of  the  islands  can  be 
developed ;  so  that  franchises  (for  limited  terms  of  years) 
can  be  granted  to  companies  doing  business  in  them,  and 
every  encouragement  be  given  to  the  incoming  of  business 
men  of  every  kind. 

Not  to  permit  this  is  to  do  a  wrong  to  the  Philippines. 
The  franchises  must  be  granted  and  the  business  per 
mitted  only  under  regulations  which  will  guarantee  the 
islands  against  any  kind  of  improper  exploitation.  But 
the  vast  natural  wealth  of  the  islands  must  be  developed, 
and  the  capital  willing  to  develop  it  must  be  given  the 
opportunity.  The  field  must  be  thrown  open  to  indi 
vidual  enterprise/  which  has  been  the  real  factor  in  the 
development  of  every  region  over  which  our  flag  has 
flown.  It  is  urgently  necessary  to  enact  suitable  laws 
dealing  with  general  transportation,  mining,  banking, 
currency,  homesteads,  and  the  use  and  ownership  of  the 
lands  and  timber.  These  laws  will  give  free  play  to  in 
dustrial  enterprise ;  and  the  commercial  development 
which  will  surely  follow  will  afford  to  the  people  of  the 
islands  the  best  proofs  of  the  sincerity  of  our  desire  to  aid 
them. 

I  call  your  attention  most  earnestly  to  the  crying  need 
of  a  cable  to  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines,  to  be  continued 
from  the  Philippines  to  points  in  Asia.  We  should  not 
defer  a  day  longer  than  necessary  the  construction  of 
such  a  cable.  It  is  demanded  not  merely  for  commercial 
but  for  political  and  military  considerations. 


320  MESSAGES 

Either  the  Congress  should  immediately  provide  for  the 
construction  of  a  Government  cable,  or  else  an  arrange 
ment  should  be  made  by  which  like  advantages  to  those 
accruing  from  a  Government  cable  may  be  secured  to  the 
Government  by  contract  with  a  private  cable  company. 

No  single  great  material  work  which  remains  to  be 
undertaken  on  this  continent  is  of  such  consequence  to 
the  American  people  as  the  building  of  a  canal  across  the 
Isthmus  connecting  North  and  South  America.  Its  im 
portance  to  the  Nation  is  by  no  means  limited  merely  to 
its  material  effects  upon  our  business  prosperity  ;  and  yet 
with  view  to  these  effects  alone  it  would  be  to  the  last 
degree  important  for  us  immediately  to  begin  it.  While 
its  beneficial  effects  would  perhaps  be  most  marked  upon 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  Gulf  and  South  Atlantic  States, 
it  would  also  greatly  benefit  other  sections.  It  is  em 
phatically  a  work  which  it  is  for  the  interest  of  the  entire 
country  to  begin  and  complete  as  soon  as  possible ;  it  is 
one  of  those  great  works  which  only  a  great  nation  can 
undertake  with  prospects  of  success,  and  which  when 
done  are  not  only  permanent  assets  in  the  nation's  ma 
terial  interests,  but  standing  monuments  to  its  construc 
tive  ability. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  announce  to  you  that  our 
negotiations  on  this  subject  with  Great  Britain,  conducted 
on  both  sides  in  a  spirit  of  friendliness  and  mutual  good 
will  and  respect,  have  resulted  in  my  being  able  to  lay 
before  the  Senate  a  treaty  which  if  ratified  will  enable  us 
to  begin  preparations  for  an  Isthmian  canal  at  any  time, 
and  which  guarantees  to  this  Nation  every  right  that  it 
has  ever  asked  in  connection  with  the  canal.  In  this 
treaty,  the  old  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty,  so  long  recognized 
as  inadequate  to  supply  the  base  for  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  a  necessarily  American  ship  canal,  is 
abrogated.  It  specifically  provides  that  the  United 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  321 

States  alone  shall  do  the  work  of  building  and  assume 
the  responsibility  of  safeguarding  the  canal  and  shall 
regulate  its  neutral  use  by  all  nations  on  terms  of  equality 
without  the  guaranty  or  interference  of  any  outside  nation 
from  any  quarter.  The  signed  treaty  will  at  once  be  laid 
before  the  Senate,  and  if  approved  the  Congress  can  then 
proceed  to  give  effect  to  the  advantages  it  secures  us  by 
providing  for  the  building  of  the  canal. 

The  true  end  of  every  great  and  free  people  should  be 
self-respecting  peace ;  and  this  Nation  most  earnestly  de 
sires  sincere  and  cordial  friendship  with  all  others.  Over 
the  entire  world,  of  recent  years,  wars  between  the  great 
civilized  powers  have  become  less  and  less  frequent. 
Wars  with  barbarous  or  semi-barbarous  peoples  come  in 
an  entirely  different  category,  being  merely  a  most  re 
grettable  but  necessary  international  police  duty  which 
must  be  performed  for  the  sake  of  the  welfare  of  man 
kind.  Peace  can  only  be  kept  with  certainty  where  both 
sides  wish  to  keep  it;  but  more  and  more  the  civilized 
peoples  are  realizing  the  wicked  folly  of  war  and  are  at 
taining  that  condition  of  just  and  intelligent  regard  for 
the  rights  of  others  which  will  in  the  end,  as  we  hope 
and  believe,  make  world-wide  peace  possible.  The  peace 
conference  at  The  Hague  gave  definite  expression  to 
this  hope  and  belief  and  marked  a  stride  toward  their 
attainment. 

This  same  peace  conference  acquiesced  in  our  state 
ment  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  as  compatible  with  the 
purposes  and  aims  of  the  conference. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  should  be  the  cardinal  feature  of 
the  foreign  policy  of  all  the  nations  of  the  two  Americas, 
as  it  is  of  the  United  States.  Just  seventy-eight  years 
have  passed  since  President  Monroe  in  his  Annual  Mes 
sage  announced  that  "  The  American  continents  are 
henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future 


322  MESSAGES 

colonization  by  any  European  power."  In  other  words, 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  a  declaration  that  there  must  be 
no  territorial  aggrandizement  by  any  non-American  power 
at  the  expense  of  any  American  power  on  American  soil. 
It  is  in  no  wise  intended  as  hostile  to  any  nation  in  the 
Old  World.  Still  less  is  it  intended  to  give  cover  to  any 
aggression  by  one  New  World  power  at  the  expense  of 
any  other.  It  is  simply  a  step,  and  a  long  step,  toward 
assuring  the  universal  peace  of  the  world  by  securing  the 
possibility  of  permanent  peace  on  this  hemisphere. 

During  the  past  century  other  influences  have  estab 
lished  the  permanence  and  independence  of  the  smaller 
states  of  Europe.  Through  the  Monroe  Doctrine  we 
hope  to  be  able  to  safeguard  like  independence  and  secure 
like  permanence  for  the  lesser  among  the  New  World 
nations. 

This  doctrine  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  commercial 
relations  of  any  American  power,  save  that  it  in  truth 
allows  each  of  them  to  form  such  as  it  desires.  In  other 
words,  it  is  really  a  guaranty  of  the  commercial  independ 
ence  of  the  Americas.  We  do  not  ask  under  this  doctrine 
for  any  exclusive  commercial  dealings  with  any  other 
American  state.  We  do  not  guarantee  any  state  against 
punishment  if  it  misconducts  itself,  provided  that  punish 
ment  does  not  take  the  form  of  the  acquisition  of  territory 
by  any  non-American  power. 

Our  attitude  in  Cuba  is  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  our  own 
good  faith.  We  have  not  the  slightest  desire  to  secure 
any  territory  at  the  expense  of  any  of  our  neighbors. 
We  wish  to  work  with  them  hand  in  hand,  so  that  all  of 
us  may  be  uplifted  together,  and  we  rejoice  over  the  good 
fortune  of  any  of  them,  we  gladly  hail  their  material 
prosperity  and  political  stability,  and  are  concerned  and 
alarmed  if  any  of  them  fall  into  industrial  or  political 
chaos.  We  do  not  wish  to  see  any  Old  World  military 
power  grow  up  on  this  continent,  or  to  be  compelled  to 


5?TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  323 

become  a  military  power  ourselves.  The  peoples  of  the 
Americas  can  prosper  best  if  left  to  work  out  their  own 
salvation  in  their  own  way. 

The  work  of  upbuilding  the  Navy  must  be  steadily  con 
tinued.  No  one  point  of  our  policy,  foreign  or  domestic, 
is  more  important  than  this  to  the  honor  and  material 
welfare,  and  above  all  to  the  peace,  of  our  Nation  in  the 
future.  Whether  we  desire  it  or  not,  we  must  henceforth 
recognize  that  we  have  international  duties  no  less  than 
international  rights.  Even  if  our  flag  were  hauled  down 
in  the  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico,  even  if  we  decided  not 
to  build  the  Isthmian  Canal,  we  should  need  a  thoroughly 
trained  Navy  of  adequate  size,  or  else  be  prepared  defi 
nitely  and  for  all  time  to  abandon  the  idea  that  our 
Nation  is  among  those  whose  sons  go  down  to  the  sea  in 
ships.  Unless  our  commerce  is  always  to  be  carried  in 
foreign  bottoms,  we  must  have  war  craft  to  protect  it. 

Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  American  people  have  no 
thought  of  abandoning  the  path  upon  which  they  have 
entered,  and  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  build 
ing  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  is  fast  becoming  one  of  the 
matters  which  the  whole  people  are  united  in  demanding, 
it  is  imperative  that  our  Navy  should  be  put  and  kept  in 
the  highest  state  of  efficiency,  and  should  be  made  to 
answer  to  our  growing  needs.  So  far  from  being  in  any 
way  a  provocation  to  war,  an  adequate  and  highly  trained 
Navy  is  the  best  guaranty  against  war,  the  cheapest  and 
most  effective  peace  insurance.  The  cost  of  building  and 
maintaining  such  a  Navy  represents  the  very  lightest 
premium  for  insuring  peace  which  this  Nation  can  possibly 

Pay- 
Probably   no   other   great    nation  in   the  world   is  so 
anxious  for  peace  as  we  are.     There  is  not  a  single  civil 
ized  power  which  has  anything  whatever  to  fear  from 
aggressiveness  on  our  part.     All  we  want  is  peace ;  and 


324  MESSAGES 

toward  this  end  we  wish  to  be  able  to  secure  the  same 
respect  for  our  rights  from  others  which  we  are  eager  and 
anxious  to  extend  to  their  rights  in  return,  to  insure  fair 
treatment  to  us  commercially,  and  to  guarantee  the  safety 
of  the  American  people. 

Our  people  intend  to  abide  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
and  to  insist  upon  it  as  the  one  sure  means  of  securing 
the  peace  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  The  Navy  offers 
us  the  only  means  of  making  our  insistence  upon  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  anything  but  a  subject  of  derision  to 
whatever  nation  chooses  to  disregard  it.  We  desire  the 
peace  which  comes  as  of  right  to  the  just  man  armed; 
not  the  peace  granted  on  terms  of  ignominy  to  the  craven 
and  the  weakling. 

It  is  not  possible  to  improvise  a  Navy  after  war  breaks 
out.  The  ships  must  be  built  and  the  men  trained  long 
in  advance.  Some  auxiliary  vessels  can  be  turned  into 
makeshifts  which  will  do  in  default  of  any  better  for  the 
minor  work,  and  a  proportion  of  raw  men  can  be  mixed 
with  the  highly  trained,  their  shortcomings  being  made 
good  by  the  skill  of  their  fellows ;  but  the  efficient  fight 
ing  force  of  the  Navy  when  pitted  against  an  equal 
opponent  will  be  found  almost  exclusively  in  the  war 
ships  that  have  been  regularly  built  and  in  the  officers 
and  men  who  through  years  of  faithful  performance  of 
sea  duty  have  been  trained  to  handle  their  formidable  but 
complex  and  delicate  weapons  with  the  highest  efficiency. 
In  the  late  war  with  Spain  the  ships  that  dealt  the  decisive 
blows  at  Manila  and  Santiago  had  been  launched  from 
two  to  fourteen  years,  and  they  were  able  to  do  as  they 
did  because  the  men  in  the  conning  towers,  the  gun 
turrets,  and  the  engine-rooms  had  through  long  years  of 
practice  at  sea  learned  how  to  do  their  duty. 

Our  present  Navy  was  begun  in  1882.  At  that  period 
our  Navy  consisted  of  a  collection  of  antiquated  wooden 
ships,  already  almost  as  out  of  place  against  modern  war 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  325 

vessels  as  the  galleys  of  Alcibiades  and  Hamilcar — cer 
tainly  as  the  ships  of  Tromp  and  Blake.  Nor  at  that 
time  did  we  have  men  fit  to  handle  a  modern  man-of-war. 
Under  the  wise  legislation  of  the  Congress  and  the  suc 
cessful  administration  of  a  succession  of  patriotic  Secre 
taries  of  the  Navy,  belonging  to  both  political  parties,  the 
work  of  upbuilding  the  Navy  went  on,  and  ships  equal  to 
any  in  the  world  of  their  kind  were  continually  added ; 
and  what  was  even  more  important,  these  ships  were 
exercised  at  sea  singly  and  in  squadrons  until  the  men 
aboard  them  were  able  to  get  the  best  possible  service 
out  of  them.  The  result  was  seen  in  the  short  war  with 
Spain,  which  was  decided  with  such  rapidity  because  of 
the  infinitely  greater  preparedness  of  our  Navy  than  of 
the  Spanish  Navy. 

While  awarding  the  fullest  honor  to  the  men  who  actu 
ally  commanded  and  manned  the  ships  which  destroyed 
the  Spanish  sea  forces  in  the  Philippines  and  in  Cuba,  we 
must  not  forget  that  an  equal  meed  of  praise  belongs  to 
those  without  whom  neither  blow  could  have  been  struck. 
The  Congressmen  who  voted  years  in  advance  the  money 
to  lay  down  the  ships,  to  build  the  guns,  to  buy  the 
armor-plate;  the  Department  officials  and  the  business 
men  and  wage  workers  who  furnished  what  the  Congress 
had  authorized ;  the  Secretaries  of  the  Navy  who  asked 
for  and  expended  the  appropriations ;  and  finally  the 
officers  who,  in  fair  weather  and  foul,  on  actual  sea  ser 
vice,  trained  and  disciplined  the  crews  of  the  ships  when 
there  was  no  war  in  sight — all  are  entitled  to  a  full  share 
in  the  glory  of  Manila  and  Santiago,  and  the  respect  ac 
corded  by  every  true  American  to  those  who  wrought 
such  signal  triumph  for  our  country.  It  was  forethought 
and  preparation  which  secured  us  the  overwhelming 
triumph  of  1898.  If  we  fail  to  show  forethought  and 
preparation  now,  there  may  come  a  time  when  disaster 
will  befall  us  instead  of  triumph ;  and  should  this  time 


326  MESSAGES 

come,  the  fault  will  rest  primarily,  not  upon  those  whom 
the  accident  of  events  puts  in  supreme  command  at  the 
moment,  but  upon  those  who  have  failed  to  prepare  in 
advance. 

There  should  be  no  cessation  in  the  work  of  completing 
our  Navy.  So  far  ingenuity  has  been  wholly  unable  to  de 
vise  a  substitute  for  the  great  war  craft  whose  hammering 
guns  beat  out  the  mastery  of  the  high  seas.  It  is  unsafe 
and  unwise  not  to  provide  this  year  for  several  additional 
battleships  and  heavy  armored  cruisers,  with  auxiliary 
and  lighter  craft  in  proportion ;  for  the  exact  numbers  and 
character  I  refer  you  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy.  But  there  is  something  we  need  even  more  than 
additional  ships,  and  this  is  additional  officers  and  men. 
To  provide  battleships  and  cruisers  and  then  lay  them 
up,  with  the  expectation  of  leaving  them  unmanned  until 
they  are  needed  in  actual  war,  would  be  worse  than  folly ; 
it  would  be  a  crime  against  the  Nation. 

To  send  any  warship  against  a  competent  enemy  unless 
those  aboard  it  have  been  trained  by  years  of  actual  sea 
service,  including  incessant  gunnery  practice,  would  be 
to  invite  not  merely  disaster,  but  the  bitterest  shame  and 
humiliation.  Four  thousand  additional  seamen  and  one 
thousand  additional  marines  should  be  provided ;  and  an 
increase  in  the  officers  should  be  provided  by  making  a 
large  addition  to  the  classes  at  Annapolis.  There  is  one 
small  matter  which  should  be  mentioned  in  connection 
with  Annapolis.  The  pretentious  and  unmeaning  title 
of  "naval  cadet"  should  be  abolished;  the  title  of  "mid 
shipman,"  full  of  historic  association,  should  be  restored. 

Even  in  time  of  peace  a  warship  should  be  used  until 
it  wears  out,  for  only  so  can  it  be  kept  fit  to  respond  to 
any  emergency.  The  officers  and  men  alike  should  be 
kept  as  much  as  possible  on  blue  water,  for  it  is  there  only 
they  can  learn  their  duties  as  they  should  be  learned. 
The  big  vessels  should  be  manoeuvred  in  squadrons  con- 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  327 

taining  not  merely  battleships,  but  the  necessary  propor 
tion  of  cruisers  and  scouts.  The  torpedo  boats  should 
be  handled  by  the  younger  officers  in  such  manner  as  will 
best  fit  the  latter  to  take  responsibility  and  meet  the 
emergencies  of  actual  warfare. 

Every  detail  ashore  which  can  be  performed  by  a  civil 
ian  should  be  so  performed,  the  officer  being  kept  for  his 
special  duty  in  the  sea  service.  Above  all,  gunnery  prac 
tice  should  be  unceasing.  It  is  important  to  have  our 
Navy  of  adequate  size,  but  it  is  even  more  important 
that  ship  for  ship  it  should  equal  in  efficiency  any  navy 
in  the  world.  This  is  possible  only  with  highly  drilled 
crews  and  officers,  and  this  in  turn  imperatively  demands 
continuous  and  progressive  instruction  in  target  practice, 
ship  handling,  squadron  tactics,  and  general  discipline. 
Our  ships  must  be  assembled  in  squadrons  actively  cruis 
ing  away  from  harbors  and  never  long  at  anchor.  The 
resulting  wear  upon  engines  and  hulls  must  be  endured ; 
a  battleship  worn  out  in  long  training  of  officers  and  men 
is  well  paid  for  by  the  results,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
no  matter  in  how  excellent  condition,  it  is  useless  if  the 
crew  be  not  expert. 

We  now  have  seventeen  battleships  appropriated  for, 
of  which  nine  are  completed  and  have  been  commissioned 
for  actual  service.  The  remaining  eight  will  be  ready  in 
from  two  to  four  years,  but  it  will  take  at  least  that  time 
to  recruit  and  train  the  men  to  fight  them.  It  is  of  vast 
concern  that  we  have  trained  crews  ready  for  the  vessels 
by  the  time  they  are  commissioned.  Good  ships  and 
good  guns  are  simply  good  weapons,  and  the  best  weapons 
are  useless  save  in  the  hands  of  men  who  know  how  to 
fight  with  them.  The  men  must  be  trained  and  drilled 
under  a  thorough  and  well-planned  system  of  progressive 
instruction,  while  the  recruiting  must  be  carried  on  with 
still  greater  vigor.  Every  effort  must  be  made  to  exalt 
the  main  function  of  the  officer — the  command  of  men. 


328  MESSAGES 

The  leading  graduates  of  the  Naval  Academy  should 
be  assigned  to  the  combatant  branches,  the  line  and 
marines. 

Many  of  the  essentials  of  success  are  already  recognized 
by  the  General  Board,  which,  as  the  central  office  of  a 
growing  staff,  is  moving  steadily  toward  a  proper  war 
efficiency  and  a  proper  efficiency  of  the  whole  Navy, 
under  the  Secretary.  This  General  Board,  by  fostering 
the  creation  of  a  general  staff,  is  providing  for  the  official 
and  then  the  general  recognition  of  our  altered  conditions 
as  a  Nation  and  of  the  true  meaning  of  a  great  war  fleet, 
which  meaning  is,  first,  the  best  men,  and,  second,  the 
best  ships. 

The  Naval  Militia  forces  are  State  organizations,  and 
are  trained  for  coast  service,  and  in  event  of  war  they  will 
constitute  the  inner  line  of  defence.  They  should  receive 
hearty  encouragement  from  the  General  Government. 

But  in  addition  we  should  at  once  provide  for  a  National 
Naval  Reserve,  organized  and  trained  under  the  direction 
of  the  Navy  Department,  and  subject  to  the  call  of  the 
Chief  Executive  whenever  war  becomes  imminent.  It 
should  be  a  real  auxiliary  to  the  naval  sea-going  peace 
establishment,  and  offer  material  to  be  drawn  on  at  once 
for  manning  our  ships  in  time  of  war.  It  should  be  com 
posed  of  graduates  of  the  Naval  Academy,  graduates  of 
the  Naval  Militia,  officers  and  crews  of  coast-line  steamers, 
longshore  schooners,  fishing  vessels,  and  steam  yachts, 
together  with  the  coast  population  about  such  centres  as 
life-saving  stations  and  lighthouses. 

The  American  people  must  either  build  and  maintain 
an  adequate  Navy  or  else  make  up  their  minds  definitely 
to  accept  a  secondary  position  in  international  affairs,  not 
merely  in  political,  but  in  commercial,  matters.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  there  is  no  surer  way  of  courting 
national  disaster  than  to  be  "opulent,  aggressive,  and 
unarmed." 


CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  329 

It  is  not  necessary  to  increase  our  Army  beyond  its 
present  size  at  this  time.  But  it  is  necessary  to  keep  it 
at  the  highest  point  of  efficiency.  The  individual  units 
who  as  officers  and  enlisted  men  compose  this  Army,  are, 
we  have  good  reason  to  believe,  at  least  as  efficient  as 
those  of  any  other  army  in  the  entire  world.  It  is  our 
duty  to  see  that  their  training  is  of  a  kind  to  insure  the 
highest  possible  expression  of  power  to  these  units  when 
acting  in  combination. 

The  conditions  of  modern  war  are  such  as  to  make  an 
infinitely  heavier  demand  than  ever  before  upon  the  indi 
vidual  character  and  capacity  of  the  officer  and  the  en 
listed  man,  and  to  make  it  far  more  difficult  for  men  to  act 
together  with  effect.  At  present  the  fighting  must  be 
done  in  extended  order,  which  means  that  each  man  must 
act  for  himself  and  at  the  same  time  act  in  combination 
with  others  with  whom  he  is  no  longer  in  the  old-fashioned 
elbow-to-elbow  touch.  Under  such  conditions  a  few  men 
of  the  highest  excellence  are  worth  more  than  many  men 
without  the  special  skill  which  is  only  found  as  the  result 
of  special  training  applied  to  men  of  exceptional  physique 
and  morale.  But  nowadays  the  most  valuable  fighting 
man  and  the  most  difficult  to  perfect  is  the  rifleman  who 
is  also  a  skilful  and  daring  rider. 

The  proportion  of  our  cavalry  regiments  has  wisely 
been  increased.  The  American  cavalryman,  trained  to 
manoeuvre  and  fight  with  equal  facility  on  foot  and  on 
horseback,  is  the  best  type  of  soldier  for  general  purposes 
now  to  be  found  in  the  world.  The  ideal  cavalryman  of 
the  present  day  is  a  man  who  can  fight  on  foot  as  effec 
tively  as  the  best  infantryman,  and  who  is  in  addition 
unsurpassed  in  the  care  and  management  of  his  horse  and 
in  his  ability  to  fight  on  horseback. 

A  general  staff  should  be  created.  As  for  the  present 
staff  and  supply  departments,  they  should  be  filled  by 
details  from  the  line,  the  men  so  detailed  returning  after 


330  MESSAGES 

a  while  to  their  line  duties.  It  is  very  undesirable  to 
have  the  senior  grades  of  the  Army  composed  of  men 
who  have  come  to  fill  the  positions  by  the  mere  fact  of 
seniority.  A  system  should  be  adopted  by  which  there 
shall  be  an  elimination  grade  by  grade  of  those  who  seem 
unfit  to  render  the  best  service  in  the  next  grade.  Justice 
to  the  veterans  of  the  Civil  War  who  are  still  in  the  Army 
would  seem  to  require  that  in  the  matter  of  retirements 
they  be  given  by  law  the  same  privileges  accorded  to 
their  comrades  in  the  Navy. 

The  process  of  elimination  of  the  least  fit  should  be  con- 
ducted  in  a  manner  that  would  render  it  practically  im 
possible  to  apply  political  or  social  pressure  on  behalf  of 
any  candidate,  so  that  each  man  may  be  judged  purely 
on  his  own  merits.  Pressure  for  the  promotion  of  civil 
officials  for  political  reasons  is  bad  enough,  but  it  is  ten 
fold  worse  where  applied  on  behalf  of  officers  of  the  Army 
or  Navy.  Every  promotion  and  every  detail  under  the 
War  Department  must  be  made  solely  with  regard  to 
the  good  of  the  service  and  to  the  capacity  and  merit  of 
the  man  himself.  No  pressure,  political,  social,  or  per 
sonal,  of  any  kind,  will  be  permitted  to  exercise  the  least 
effect  in  any  question  of  promotion  or  detail;  and  if 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  such  pressure  is  exercised 
at  the  instigation  of  the  officer  concerned,  it  will  be  held 
to  militate  against  him.  In  our  Army  we  cannot  afford 
to  have  rewards  or  duties  distributed  save  on  the  simple 
ground  that  those  who  by  their  own  merits  are  entitled 
to  the  rewards  get  them,  and  that  those  who  are  pecu 
liarly  fit  to  do  the  duties  are  chosen  to  perform  them. 

Every  effort  should  be  made  to  bring  the  Army  to  a 
constantly  increasing  state  of  efficiency.  When  on  actual 
service  no  work  save  that  directly  in  the  line  of  such  ser 
vice  should  be  required.  The  paper  work  in  the  Army, 
as  in  the  Navy,  should  be  greatly  reduced.  What  is 
needed  is  proved  power  of  command  and  capacity  to 


SjTH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  331 

work  well  in  the  field.  Constant  care  is  necessary  to 
prevent  dry  rot  in  the  transportation  and  commissary 
departments. 

Our  Army  is  so  small  and  so  much  scattered  that  it  is 
very  difficult  to  give  the  higher  officers  (as  well  as  the 
lower  officers  and  the  enlisted  men)  a  chance  to  practice 
manoeuvres  in  mass  and  on  a  comparatively  large  scale. 
In  time  of  need  no  amount  of  individual  excellence  would 
avail  against  the  paralysis  which  would  follow  inability  to 
work  as  a  coherent  whole,  under  skilful  and  daring  leader 
ship.  The  Congress  should  provide  means  whereby  it 
will  be  possible  to  have  field  exercises  by  at  least  a  divis 
ion  of  regulars,  and  if  possible  also  a  division  of  national 
guardsmen,  once  a  year.  These  exercises  might  take  the 
form  of  field  manoeuvres ;  or,  if  on  the  Gulf  coast  or  the 
Pacific  or  Atlantic  seaboard,  or  in  the  region  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  the  army  corps  when  assembled  could  be  marched 
from  some  inland  point  to  some  point  on  the  water,  there 
embarked,  disembarked  after  a  couple  of  days'  journey  at 
some  other  point,  and  again  marched  inland.  Only  by 
actual  handling  and  providing  for  men  in  masses  while 
they  are  marching,  camping,  embarking,  and  disembark 
ing,  will  it  be  possible  to  train  the  higher  officers  to  per 
form  their  duties  well  and  smoothly. 

A  great  debt  is  owing  from  the  public  to  the  men  of 
the  Army  and  Navy.  They  should  be  so  treated  as  to 
enable  them  to  reach  the  highest  point  of  efficiency,  so 
that  they  may  be  able  to  respond  instantly  to  any 
demand  made  upon  them  to  sustain  the  interests  of  the 
Nation  and  the  honor  of  the  flag.  The  individual  Ameri 
can  enlisted  man  is  probably  on  the  whole  a  more  formid 
able  fighting  man  than  the  regular  of  any  other  army. 
Every  consideration  should  be  shown  him,  and  in  return 
the  highest  standard  of  usefulness  should  be  exacted 
from  him.  It  is  well  worth  while  for  the  Congress  to 
consider  whether  the  pay  of  enlisted  men  upon  second 


332  MESSAGES 

and  subsequent  enlistments  should  not  be  increased  to 
correspond  with  the  increased  value  of  the  veteran  soldier. 

Much  good  has  already  come  from  the  act  reorganizing 
the  Army,  passed  early  in  the  present  year.  The  three 
prime  reforms,  all  of  them  of  literally  inestimable  value, 
are,  first,  the  substitution  of  four-year  details  from  the 
line  for  permanent  appointments  in  the  so-called  staff 
divisions;  second,  the  establishment  of  a  corps  of  artil 
lery  with  a  chief  at  the  head ;  third,  the  establishment  of 
a  maximum  and  minimum  limit  for  the  Army.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  improvement  in  the  effi 
ciency  of  our  Army  which  these  three  reforms  are  making, 
and  have  in  part  already  effected. 

The  reorganization  provided  for  by  the  act  has  been 
substantially  accomplished.  The  improved  conditions  in 
the  Philippines  have  enabled  the  War  Department  ma 
terially  to  reduce  the  military  charge  upon  our  revenue 
and  to  arrange  the  number  of  soldiers  so  as  to  bring  this 
number  much  nearer  to  the  minimum  than  to  the  maxi 
mum  limit  established  by  law.  There  is,  however,  need 
of  supplementary  legislation.  Thorough  military  educa 
tion  must  be  provided,  and  in  addition  to  the  regulars  the 
advantages  of  this  education  should  be  given  to  the  offi 
cers  of  the  National  Guard  and  others  in  civil  life  who 
desire  intelligently  to  fit  themselves  for  possible  military 
duty.  The  officers  should  be  given  the  chance  to  perfect 
themselves  by  study  in  the  higher  branches  of  this  art. 
At  West  Point  the  education  should  be  of  the  kind  most 
apt  to  turn  out  men  who  are  good  in  actual  field  service ; 
too  much  stress  should  not  be  laid  on  mathematics,  nor 
should  proficiency  therein  be  held  to  establish  the  right 
of  entry  to  a  corps  d' ttite.  The  typical  American  officer 
of  the  best  kind  need  not  be  a  good  mathematician ;  but 
he  must  be  able  to  master  himself,  to  control  others, 
and  to  show  boldness  and  fertility  of  resource  in  every 
emergency. 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  333 

Action  should  be  taken  in  reference  to  the  militia  and 
to  the  raising  of  volunteer  forces.  Our  militia  law  is 
obsolete  and  worthless.  The  organization  and  armament 
of  the  National  Guard  of  the  several  States,  which  are 
treated  as  militia  in  the  appropriations  by  the  Congress, 
should  be  made  identical  with  those  provided  for  the 
regular  forces.  The  obligations  and  duties  of  the  Guard 
in  time  of  war  should  be  carefully  defined,  and  a  system 
established  by  law  under  which  the  method  of  procedure 
of  raising  volunteer  forces  should  be  prescribed  in  ad 
vance.  It  is  utterly  impossible  in  the  excitement  and 
haste  of  impending  war  to  do  this  satisfactorily  if  the 
arrangements  have  not  been  made  long  beforehand. 
Provision  should  be  made  for  utilizing  in  the  first  volun 
teer  organizations  called  out  the  training  of  those  citizens 
who  have  already  had  experience  under  arms,  and  espe 
cially  for  the  selection  in  advance  of  the  officers  of  any 
force  which  may  be  raised ;  for  careful  selection  of  the 
kind  necessary  is  impossible  after  the  outbreak  of  war. 

That  the  Army  is  not  at  all  a  mere  instrument  of  de 
struction  has  been  shown  during  the  last  three  years.  In 
the  Philippines,  Cuba,  and  Porto  Rico  it  has  proved  itself 
a  great  constructive  force,  a  most  potent  implement  for 
the  upbuilding  of  a  peaceful  civilization. 

No  other  citizens  deserve  so  well  of  the  Republic  as  the 
veterans,  the  survivors  of  those  who  saved  the  Union. 
They  did  the  one  deed  which  if  left  undone  would  have 
meant  that  all  else  in  our  history  went  for  nothing.  But 
for  their  steadfast  prowess  in  the  greatest-  crisis  of  our 
history,  all  our  annals  would  be  meaningless,  and  our 
great  experiment  in  popular  freedom  and  self-government 
a  gloomy  failure.  Moreover,  they  not  only  left  us  a 
united  Nation,  but  they  left  us  also  as  a  heritage  the 
memory  of  the  mighty  deeds  by  which  the  Nation  was 
kept  united.  We  are  now  indeed  one  Nation,  one  in  fact 


334 


MESSAGES 


as  well  as  in  name;  we  are  united  in  our  devotion  to  the 
flag  which  is  the  symbol  of  national  greatness  and  unity ; 
and  the  very  completeness  of  our  union  enables  us  all,  in 
every  part  of  the  country,  to  glory  in  the  valor  shown 
alike  by  the  sons  of  the  North  and  the  sons  of  the  South 
in  the  times  that  tried  men's  souls. 

The  men  who  in  the  last  three  years  have  done  so  well 
in  the  East  and  the  West  Indies  and  on  the  mainland  of 
Asia  have  shown  that  this  remembrance  is  not  lost.  In 
any  serious  crisis  the  United  States  must  rely  for  the 
great  mass  of  its  fighting  men  upon  the  volunteer  soldiery 
who  do  not  make  a  permanent  profession  of  the  military 
career;  and  whenever  such  a  crisis  arises  the  deathless 
memories  of  the  Civil  War  will  give  to  Americans  the  lift 
of  lofty  purpose  which  comes  to  those  whose  fathers  have 
stood  valiantly  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle. 

The  merit  system  of  making  appointments  is  in  its 
essence  as  democratic  and  American  as  the  common- 
school  system  itself.  It  simply  means  that  in  clerical 
and  other  positions  where  the  duties  are  entirely  non- 
political,  all  applicants  should  have  a  fair  field  and  no 
favor,  each  standing  on  his  merits  as  he  is  able  to  show 
them  by  practical  test.  Written  competitive  examina 
tions  offer  the  only  available  means  in  many  cases  for 
applying  this  system.  In  other  cases,  as  where  laborers 
are  employed,  a  system  of  registration  undoubtedly  can 
be  widely  extended.  There  are,  of  course,  places  where 
the  written  competitive  examination  cannot  be  applied, 
and  others  where  it  offers  by  no  means  an  ideal  solution, 
but  where  under  existing  political  conditions  it  is,  though 
an  imperfect  means,  yet  the  best  present  means  of  getting 
satisfactory  results. 

Wherever  the  conditions  have  permitted  the  application 
of  the  merit  system  in  its  fullest  and  widest  sense,  the 
gain  to  the  Government  has  been  immense.  The  navy- 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  335 

yards  and  postal  service  illustrate,  probably  better  than 
any  other  branches  of  the  Government,  the  great  gain  in 
economy,  efficiency,  and  honesty  due  to  the  enforcement 
of  this  principle. 

I  recommend  the  passage  of  a  law  which  will  extend 
the  classified  service  to  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  will 
at  least  enable  the  President  thus  to  extend  it.  In  my 
judgment  all  laws  providing  for  the  temporary  employ 
ment  of  clerks  should  hereafter  contain  a  provision  that 
they  be  selected  under  the  Civil  Service  Law. 

It  is  important  to  have  this  system  obtain  at  home,  but 
it  is  even  more  important  to  have  it  applied  rigidly  in 
our  insular  possessions.  Not  an  office  should  be  filled 
in  the  Philippines  or  Porto  Rico  with  any  regard  to  the 
man's  partisan  affiliations  or  services,  with  any  regard  to 
the  political,  social,  or  personal  influence  which  he  may 
have  at  his  command ;  in  short,  heed  should  be  paid  to 
absolutely  nothing  save  the  man's  own  character  and 
capacity  and  the  needs  of  the  service. 

The  administration  of  these  islands  should  be  as  wholly 
free  from  the  suspicion  of  partisan  politics  as  the  admin 
istration  of  the  Army  and  Navy.  All  that  we  ask  from 
the  public  servant  in  the  Philippines  or  Porto  Rico  is  that 
he  reflect  honor  on  his  country  by  the  way  in  which  he 
makes  that  country's  rule  a  benefit  to  the  peoples  who 
have  come  under  it.  This  is  all  that  we  should  ask,  and 
we  cannot  afford  to  be  content  with  less. 

The  merit  system  is  simply  one  method  of  securing 
honest  and  efficient  administration  of  the  Government ; 
and  in  the  long  run  the  sole  justification  of  any  type  of 
government  lies  in  its  proving  itself  both  honest  and 
efficient. 

The  consular  service  is  now  organized  under  the  pro 
visions  of  a  law  passed  in  1856,  which  is  entirely  inade 
quate  to  existing  conditions.  The  interest  shown  by  so 


336  MESSAGES 

many  commercial  bodies  throughout  the  country  in  the 
reorganization  of  the  service  is  heartily  commended  to 
your  attention.  Several  bills  providing  for  a  new  consu 
lar  service  have  in  recent  years  been  submitted  to  the 
Congress.  They  are  based  upon  the  just  principle  that 
appointments  to  the  service  should  be  made  only  after  a 
practical  test  of  the  applicant's  fitness,  that  promotions 
should  be  governed  by  trustworthiness,  adaptability,  and 
zeal  in  the  performance  of  duty,  and  that  the  tenure  of 
office  should  be  unaffected  by  partisan  considerations. 

The  guardianship  and  fostering  of  our  rapidly  expand 
ing  foreign  commerce,  the  protection  of  American  citizens 
resorting  to  foreign  countries  in  lawful  pursuit  of  their 
affairs,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  dignity  of  the  Nation 
abroad,  combine  to  make  it  essential  that  our  consuls 
should  be  men  of  character,  knowledge,  and  enterprise. 
It  is  true  that  the  service  is  now,  in  the  main,  efficient, 
but  a  standard  of  excellence  cannot  be  permanently  main 
tained  until  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  bills  heretofore 
submitted  to  the  Congress  on  this  subject  are  enacted 
into  law. 

In  my  judgment  the  time  has  arrived  when  we  should 
definitely  make  up  our  minds  to  recognize  the  Indian  as 
an  individual  and  not  as  a  member  of  a  tribe.  The  Gen 
eral  Allotment  Act  is  a  mighty  pulverizing  engine  to 
break  up  the  tribal  mass.  It  acts  directly  upon  the 
family  and  the  individual.  Under  its  provisions  some 
sixty  thousand  Indians  have  already  become  citizens  of 
the  United  States.  We  should  now  break  up  the  tribal 
funds,  doing  for  them  what  allotment  does  for  the  tribal 
lands;  that  is,  they  should  be  divided  into  individual 
holdings.  There  will  be  a  transition  period  during  which 
the  funds  will  in  many  cases  have  to  be  held  in  trust. 
This  is  the  case  also  with  the  lands.  A  stop  should  be 
put  upon  the  indiscriminate  permission  to  Indians  to 


CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  337 

lease  their  allotments.  The  effort  should  be  steadily  to 
make  the  Indian  work  like  any  other  man  on  his  own 
ground.  The  marriage  laws  of  the  Indians  should  be 
made  the  same  as  those  of  the  whites. 

In  the  schools  the  education  should  be  elementary  and 
largely  industrial.  The  need  of  higher  education  among 
the  Indians  is  very,  very  limited.  On  the  reservation 
care  should  be  taken  to  try  to  suit  the  teaching  to  the 
needs  of  the  particular  Indian.  There  is  no  use  in  at 
tempting  to  induce  agriculture  in  a  country  suited  only 
for  cattle  raising,  where  the  Indian  should  be  made  a 
stock  grower.  The  ration  system,  which  is  merely  the 
corral  and  the  reservation  system,  is  highly  detrimental 
to  the  Indians.  It  promotes  beggary,  perpetuates  pauper 
ism,  and  stifles  industry.  It  is  an  effectual  barrier  to  pro 
gress.  It  must  continue  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  as 
long  as  tribes  are  herded  on  reservations  and  have  every 
thing  in  common.  The  Indian  should  be  treated  as  an 
individual — like  the  white  man.  During  the  change  of 
treatment  inevitable  hardships  will  occur;  every  effort 
should  be  made  to  minimize  these  hardships;  but  we 
should  not  because  of  them  hesitate  to  make  the  change. 
There  should  be  a  continuous  reduction  in  the  number 
of  agencies. 

In  dealing  with  the  aboriginal  races  few  things  are  more 
important  than  to  preserve  them  from  the  terrible  physi 
cal  and  moral  degradation  resulting  from  the  liquor  traffic. 
We  are  doing  all  we  can  to  save  our  own  Indian  tribes 
from  this  evil.  Wherever  by  international  agreement 
this  same  end  can  be  attained  as  regards  races  where  we 
do  not  possess  exclusive  control,  every  effort  should  be 
made  to  bring  it  about. 

I  bespeak  the  most  cordial  support  from  the  Con 
gress  and  the  people  for  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  to 


338  MESSAGES 

Commemorate  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the 
Louisiana  Purchase.  This  purchase  was  the  greatest  in 
stance  of  expansion  in  our  history.  It  definitely  decided 
that  we  were  to  become  a  great  continental  republic,  by 
far  the  foremost  power  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  It 
is  one  of  three  or  four  great  landmarks  in  our  history — the 
great  turning-points  in  our  development.  It  is  eminently 
fitting  that  all  our  people  should  join  with  heartiest  good 
will  in  commemorating  it,  and  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis, 
of  Missouri,  of  all  the  adjacent  region,  are  entitled  to 
every  aid  in  making  the  celebration  a  noteworthy  event 
in  our  annals.  We  earnestly  hope  that  foreign  nations 
will  appreciate  the  deep  interest  our  country  takes  in  this 
Exposition,  and  our  view  of  its  importance  from  every 
standpoint,  and  that  they  will  participate  in  securing  its' 
success.  The  National  Government  should  be  represented 
by  a  full  and  complete  set  of  exhibits. 

The  people  of  Charleston,  with  great  energy  and  civic 
spirit,  are  carrying  on  an  Exposition  which  will  continue 
throughout  most  of  the  present  session  of  the  Congress. 
I  heartily  commend  this  Exposition  to  the  good  will  of 
the  people.  It  deserves  all  the  encouragement  that  can 
be  given  it.  The  managers  of  the  Charleston  Exposition 
have  requested  the  Cabinet  officers  to  place  thereat  the 
Government  exhibits  which  have  been  at  Buffalo,  promis 
ing  to  pay  the  necessary  expenses.  I  have  taken  the  re 
sponsibility  of  directing  that  this  be  done,  for  I  feel  that 
it  is  due  to  Charleston  to  help  her  in  her  praiseworthy 
effort.  In  my  opinion  the  management  should  not  be 
required  to  pay  all  these  expenses.  I  earnestly  recom 
mend  that  the  Congress  appropriate  at  once  the  small 
sum  necessary  for  this  purpose. 

The  Pan-American  Exposition  at  Buffalo  has  just 
closed.  Both  from  the  industrial  and  the  artistic  stand- 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  339 

point  this  Exposition  has  been  in  a  high  degree  creditable 
and  useful,  not  merely  to  Buffalo  but  to  the  United 
States.  The  terrible  tragedy  of  the  President's  assassina 
tion  interfered  materially  with  its  being  a  financial  success. 
The  Exposition  was  peculiarly  in  harmony  with  the  trend 
of  our  public  policy,  because  it  represented  an  effort  to 
bring  into  closer  touch  all  the  peoples  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  and  give  them  an  increasing  sense  of  unity. 
Such  an  effort  was  a  genuine  service  to  the  entire  Ameri 
can  public. 

The  advancement  of  the  highest  interests  of  national 
science  and  learning  and  the  custody  of  objects  of  art 
and  of  the  valuable  results  of  scientific  expeditions  con 
ducted  by  the  United  States  have  been  committed  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institution.  In  furtherance  of  its  declared 
purpose — for  the  "increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  men  " — the  Congress  has  from  time  to  time  given 
it  other  important  functions.  Such  trusts  have  been 
executed  by  the  Institution  with  notable  fidelity.  There 
should  be  no  halt  in  the  work  of  the  Institution,  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  plans  which  its  Secretary  has  pre 
sented,  for  the  preservation  of  the  vanishing  races  of 
great  North  American  animals  in  the  National  Zoological 
Park.  The  urgent  needs  of  the  National  Museum  are 
recommended  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the 
Congress. 

Perhaps  the  most  characteristic  educational  movement 
of  the  past  fifty  years  is  that  which  has  created  the  modern 
public  library  and  developed  it  into  broad  and  active  ser 
vice.  There  are  now  over  five  thousand  public  libraries 
in  the  United  States,  the  product  of  this  period.  In 
addition  to  accumulating  material,  they  are  also  striving 
by  organization,  by  improvement  in  method,  and  by  co 
operation,  to  give  greater  efficiency  to  the  material  they 


340 


MESSAGES 


hold,  to  make  it  more  widely  useful,  and  by  avoidance  of 
unnecessary  duplication  in  process  to  reduce  the  cost  of 
its  administration. 

In  these  efforts  they  naturally  look  for  assistance  to  the 
Federal  library,  which,  though  still  the  Library  of  Con 
gress,  and  so  entitled,  is  the  one  national  library  of  the 
United  States.  Already  the  largest  single  collection  of 
books  on  the  Western  Hemisphere,  and  certain  to  in 
crease  more  rapidly  than  any  other  through  purchase, 
exchange,  and  the  operation  of  the  copyright  law,  this 
library  has  a  unique  opportunity  to  render  to  the  libraries 
of  this  country — to  American  scholarship — service  of  the 
highest  importance.  It  is  housed  in  a  building  which  is 
the  largest  and  most  magnificent  yet  erected  for  library 
uses.  Resources  are  now  being  provided  which  will  de 
velop  the  collection  properly,  equip  it  with  the  apparatus 
and  service  necessary  to  its  effective  use,  render  its  biblio 
graphic  work  widely  available,  and  enable  it  to  become, 
not  merely  a  centre  of  research,  but  the  chief  factor  in 
great  co-operative  efforts  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 
and  the  advancement  of  learning. 

For  the  sake  of  good  administration,  sound  economy, 
and  the  advancement  of  science,  the  Census  Office  as  now 
constituted  should  be  made  a  permanent  Government 
bureau.  This  would  insure  better,  cheaper,  and  more 
satisfactory  work,  in  the  interest  not  only  of  our  business 
but  of  statistic,  economic,  and  social  science. 

The  remarkable  growth  of  the  postal  service  is  shown 
in  the  fact  that  its  revenues  have  doubled  and  its  ex 
penditures  have  nearly  doubled  within  twelve  years.  Its 
progressive  development  compels  constantly  increasing 
outlay,  but  in  this  period  of  business  energy  and  pros 
perity  its  receipts  grow  so  much  faster  than  its  expenses 
that  the  annual  deficit  has  been  steadily  reduced  from 


CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  341 

$11, 41 1, 779  in  1897  to  $3, 923, 727  in  1901.  Among  recent 
postal  advances  the  success  of  rural  free  delivery  wherever 
established  has  been  so  marked,  and  actual  experience  has 
made  its  benefits  so  plain,  that  the  demand  for  its  exten 
sion  is  general  and  urgent. 

It  is  just  that  the  great  agricultural  population  should 
share  in  the  improvement  of  the  service.  The  number 
of  rural  routes  now  in  operation  is  6009,  practically  all 
established  within  three  years,  and  there  are  6000  appli 
cations  awaiting  action.  It  is  expected  that  the  number 
in  operation  at  the  close  of  the  current  fiscal  year  will 
reach  8600.  The  mail  will  then  be  daily  carried  to  the 
doors  of  5,700,000  of  our  people  who  have  heretofore 
been  dependent  upon  distant  offices,  and  one-third  of  all 
that  portion  of  the  country  which  is  adapted  to  it  will  be 
covered  by  this  kind  of  service. 

The  full  measure  of  postal  progress  which  might  be 
realized  has  long  been  hampered  and  obstructed  by  the 
heavy  burden  imposed  on  the  Government  through  the 
intrenched  and  well-understood  abuses  which  have  grown 
up  in  connection  with  second-class  mail  matter.  The 
extent  of  this  burden  appears  when  it  is  stated  that  while 
the  second-class  matter  makes  nearly  three-fifths  of  the 
weight  of  all  the  mail,  it  paid  for  the  last  fiscal  year  only 
$4,294,445  of  the  aggregate  postal  revenue  of  $111,631,- 
193.  If  the  pound  rate  of  postage,  which  produces  the 
large  loss  thus  entailed,  and  which  was  fixed  by  the  Con 
gress  with  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  dissemination 
of  public  information,  were  limited  to  the  legitimate  news 
papers  and  periodicals  actually  contemplated  by  the  law, 
no  just  exception  could  be  taken.  That  expense  would 
be  the  recognized  and  accepted  cost  of  a  liberal  public 
policy  deliberately  adopted  for  a  justifiable  end.  But 
much  of  the  matter  which  enjoys  the  privileged  rate  is 
wholly  outside  of  the  intent  of  the  law,  and  has  secured 
admission  only  through  an  evasion  of  its  requirements  or 


342 


MESSAGES 


through  lax  construction.  The  proportion  of  such  wrongly 
included  matter  is  estimated  by  postal  experts  to  be  one- 
half  of  the  whole  volume  of  second-class  mail.  If  it  be 
only  one-third  or  one-quarter,  the  magnitude  of  the  bur 
den  is  apparent.  The  Post-Office  Department  has  now 
undertaken  to  remove  the  abuses  so  far  as  is  possible  by 
a  stricter  application  of  the  law;  and  it  should  be  sus 
tained  in  its  effort. 

Owing  to  the  rapid  growth  of  our  power  and  our  inter 
ests  on  the  Pacific,  whatever  happens  in  China  must  be 
of  the  keenest  national  concern  to  us. 

The  general  terms  of  the  settlement  of  the  questions 
growing  out  of  the  anti-foreign  uprisings  in  China  of  1900, 
having  been  formulated  in  a  joint  note  addressed  to  China 
by  the  representatives  of  the  injured  powers  in  December 
last,  were  promptly  accepted  by  the  Chinese  Government. 
After  protracted  conferences  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the 
several  powers  were  able  to  sign  a  final  protocol  with  the 
Chinese  plenipotentiaries  on  the  /th  of  last  September, 
setting  forth  the  measures  taken  by  China  in  compliance 
with  the  demands  of  the  joint  note,  and  expressing  their 
satisfaction  therewith.  It  will  be  laid  before  the  Con 
gress,  with  a  report  of  the  plenipotentiary  on  behalf  of 
the  United  States,  Mr.  William  Woodville  Rockhill,  to 
whom  high  praise  is  due  for  the  tact,  good  judgment,  and 
energy  he  has  displayed  in  performing  an  exceptionally 
difficult  and  delicate  task. 

The  agreement  reached  disposes  in  a  manner  satisfactory 
to  the  powers  of  the  various  grounds  of  complaint,  and 
will  contribute  materially  to  better  future  relations  be 
tween  China  and  the  powers.  Reparation  has  been  made 
by  China  for  the  murder  of  foreigners  during  the  uprising, 
and  punishment  has  been  inflicted  on  the  officials,  how 
ever  high  in  rank,  recognized  as  responsible  for  or  having 
participated  in  the  outbreak.  Official  examinations  have 


57TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  343 

been  forbidden  for  a  period  of  five  years  in  all  cities  in 
which  foreigners  have  been  murdered  or  cruelly  treated, 
and  edicts  have  been  issued  making  all  officials  directly 
responsible  for  the  future  safety  of  foreigners  and  for  the 
suppression  of  violence  against  them. 

Provisions  have  been  made  for  insuring  the  future  safety 
of  the  foreign  representatives  in  Peking  by  setting  aside 
for  their  exclusive  use  a  quarter  of  the  city  which  the 
powers  can  make  defensible  and  in  which  they  can  if 
necessary  maintain  permanent  military  guards  by  dis 
mantling  the  military  works  between  the  capital  and  the 
sea ;  and  by  allowing  the  temporary  maintenance  of  foreign 
military  posts  along  this  line.  An  edict  has  been  issued 
by  the  Emperor  of  China  prohibiting  for  two  years  the 
importation  of  arms  and  ammunition  into  China.  China 
has  agreed  to  pay  adequate  indemnities  to  the  states, 
societies,  and  individuals  for  the  losses  sustained  by  them, 
and  for  the  expenses  of  the  military  expeditions  sent  by 
the  various  powers  to  protect  life  and  restore  order. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  joint  note  of  December, 
1900,  China  has  agreed  to  revise  the  treaties  of  commerce 
and  navigation  and  to  take  such  other  steps  for  the  pur 
pose  of  facilitating  foreign  trade  as  the  foreign  powers 
may  decide  to  be  needed. 

The  Chinese  Government  has  agreed  to  participate 
financially  in  the  work  of  bettering  the  water  approaches 
to  Shanghai  and  to  Tientsin,  the  centres  of  foreign  trade 
in  central  and  northern  China,  and  an  international  con 
servancy  board,  in  which  the  Chinese  Government  is 
largely  represented,  has  been  provided  for  the  improve 
ment  of  the  Shanghai  River  and  the  control  of  its  navi 
gation.  In  the  same  line  of  commercial  advantages  a 
revision  of  the  present  tariff  on  imports  has  been  assented 
to  for  the  purpose  of  substituting  specific  for  ad  valorem 
duties,  and  an  expert  has  been  sent  abroad  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States  to  assist  in  this  work.  A  list  of 


344  MESSAGES 

articles  to  remain  free  of  duty,  including  flour,  cereals, 
and  rice,  gold  and  silver  coin  and  bullion,  has  also  been 
agreed  upon  in  the  settlement. 

During  these  troubles  our  Government  has  unswerv 
ingly  advocated  moderation,  and  has  materially  aided  in 
bringing  about  an  adjustment  which  tends  to  enhance  the 
welfare  of  China  and  to  lead  to  a  more  beneficial  inter 
course  between  the  Empire  and  the  modern  world ;  while 
in  the  critical  period  of  revolt  and  massacre  we  did  our 
full  share  in  safeguarding  life  and  property,  restoring 
order,  and  vindicating  the  national  interest  and  honor. 
It  behooves  us  to  continue  in  these  paths,  doing  what 
lies  in  our  power  to  foster  feelings  of  good  will,  and  leav 
ing  no  effort  untried  to  work  out  the  great  policy  of  full 
and  fair  intercourse  between  China  and  the  nations,  on  a 
footing  of  equal  rights  and  advantages  to  all.  We  advo 
cate  the  "open  door  "  with  all  that  it  implies ;  not  merely 
the  procurement  of  enlarged  commercial  opportunities  on 
the  coasts,  but  access  to  the  interior  by  the  waterways  with 
•which  China  has  been  so  extraordinarily  favored.  Only 
by  bringing  the  people  of  China  into  peaceful  and  friendly 
community  of  trade  with  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  can 
the  work  now  auspiciously  begun  be  carried  to  fruition. 
In  the  attainment  of  this  purpose  we  necessarily  claim 
parity  of  treatment,  under  the  conventions,  throughout 
the  Empire  for  our  trade  and  our  citizens  with  those  of 
all  other  powers. 

We  view  with  lively  interest  and  keen  hopes  of  bene 
ficial  results  the  proceedings  of  the  Pan-American  Con 
gress,  convoked  at  the  invitation  of  Mexico,  and  now 
sitting  at  the  Mexican  capital.  The  delegates  of  the 
United  States  are  under  the  most  liberal  instructions  to 
co-operate  with  their  colleagues  in  all  matters  promising 
advantage  to  the  great  family  of  American  common 
wealths,  as  well  in  their  relations  among  themselves  as  in 


CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  345 

their  domestic  advancement  and  in  their  intercourse  with 
the  world  at  large. 

My  predecessor  communicated  to  the  Congress  the  fact 
that  the  Weil  and  La  Abra  awards  against  Mexico  have 
been  adjudged  by  the  highest  courts  of  our  country  to 
have  been  obtained  through  fraud  and  perjury  on  the 
part  of  the  claimants,  and  that  in  accordance  with  the 
acts  of  the  Congress  the  money  remaining  in  the  hands 
of  the  Secretary  of  State  on  these  awards  has  been  re 
turned  to  Mexico.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  money 
received  from  Mexico  on  these  awards  had  been  paid  by 
this  Government  to  the  claimants  before  the  decision  of 
the  courts  was  rendered.  My  judgment  is  that  the  Con 
gress  should  return  to  Mexico  an  amount  equal  to  the 
sums  thus  already  paid  to  the  claimants. 

The  death  of  Queen  Victoria  caused  the  people  of  the 
United  States  deep  and  heartfelt  sorrow,  to  which  the 
Government  gave  full  expression.  When  President 
McKinley  died,  our  Nation  in  turn  received  from  every 
quarter  of  the  British  Empire  expressions  of  grief  and 
sympathy  no  less  sincere.  The  death  of  the  Empress 
Dowager  Frederick  of  Germany  also  aroused  the  genuine 
sympathy  of  the  American  people;  and  this  sympathy 
was  cordially  reciprocated  by  Germany  when  the  Presi 
dent  was  assassinated.  Indeed,  from  every  quarter  of 
the  civilized  world  we  received,  at  the  time  of  the  Presi 
dent's  death,  assurances  of  such  grief  and  regard  as  to 
touch  the  hearts  of  our  people.  In  the  midst  of  our 
affliction  we  reverently  thank  the  Almighty  that  we  are 
at  peace  with  the  nations  of  mankind ;  and  we  firmly  in 
tend  that  our  policy  shall  be  such  as  to  continue  unbroken 
these  international  relations  of  mutual  respect  and  good 
will. 

WHITE  HOUSE,  December  3,  1901. 


MESSAGE  COMMUNICATED  TO  THE  TWO  HOUSES 
OF  CONGRESS  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
SECOND  SESSION  OF  THE  FIFTY-SEVENTH 
CONGRESS  te.cv,  V\OT- 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : 

We  still  continue  in  a  period  of  unbounded  prosperity. 
This  prosperity  is  not  the  creature  of  law,  but  undoubt 
edly  the  laws  under  which  we  work  have  been  instrumental 
in  creating  the  conditions  which  made  it  possible,  and  by 
unwise  legislation  it  would  be  easy  enough  to  destroy  it. 
There  will  undoubtedly  be  periods  of  depression.  The 
wave  will  recede ;  but  the  tj<je  will  advance.  This  Nation 
is  seated  on  a  continent  flanked  by  two  great  oceans.  It 
is  composed  of  men  the  descendants  of  pioneers,  or,  in  a 
sense,  pioneers  theijjse.lves ;  of  men  winnowed  out  from 
among  the  nations  of  the  Old  World  by  the  energy,  bold 
ness,  and  love  of  adventure  found  in  their  own  eager 
hearts.  Such  a  nation,  so  placed,  will  surely  wrest  suc 
cess  from  fortune. 

As  a  people  we  have  played  a  large  part  in  the  world, 
and  we  are  bent  upon  making  our  future  even  larger  than 
the  past.  In  particular,  the  events  of  the  last  four  years 
have  definitely  decided  that,  for  woe  or  for  weal,  our 
place  mu£t  be  great  among  the  nations.  We  may  either 
fajl  greatly  or  succeed  greatly ;  but  we  can  not  avoid  the 
endeavor  from  which  either  great  failure  or  great  success 
must  come.  Even  if  we  would,  we  can  not  play  a  small 
part.  If  we  should  try,  all  that  would  follow  would  be 
that  we  should  play  ?.  large  part  ignobly  and  shamefully. 

346 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  347 

But  our  people,  the  sons  of  the  nien  of  the  Civil  War, 
the  sans  of  the  men  who  had  iron  in  their  blood,  rejoice 
in  the  pI£S£a£  and  face  the  future  high  of  heart  and  reso 
lute  of  will.  Ours  is  not  the  creed  of  the  weakling  and 
the  coward  ;  ours  is  the  gospel  of  hope  and  of  triumphant 
endeavor.  We  do  not  shrink  from  the  struggle  before  us. 
There  are  mjjiy  problems  for  us  to  face  at  the  outset  of 
the  twentieth  century — grave  problems  abroad  and  still 
graver  at  home;  but  we  know  that  we  can  solve  them, 
and  so^ye  them  well,  provided  only  that  we  bring  to  the 
solution  the  qualities  of  head  and  heart  which  were  shown 
by  the  men  who,  in  the  days  of  Washington,  founded 
this  Government,  and,  in  the  days  of  Lincoln,  preserved 

it:  i 

I  No  country  has  ever  occupied  a  higher  plane  of  ma-l 
terial  well-being  than  ours  at  the  present  moment.  This 
well-being  is  due  to_no  sudden  or  accidental  causes,  but 
to  the  play  of  the  economic  forces  in  this  country  for 
over  a  century ;  to  our  laws,  our  sustained  and  continuous 
poHcjes;  above  all,  to  the  high_indivip1ual  average  of  our 
citizenship.  Great  foxtunes  have  been  won  by  those  who 
have  taken  the  lead  in  this  phenomenal  industrial  devel 
opment,  and  most  of  these  fortunes  have  been  won,  not 
by  doing  evil,  but  as  an  incident  to  action  which  has 
benefited  the  community  as  a  whole.  Never  before  has 
material  well-being  been  so  widely  diffused  among  our 
people.  Great  fortunes  have  been  accumulated,  and  yet 
in  the  aggregate  these  fortunes  are  small  indeed  when 
compared  to  the  wealth  of  the  people  as  a  whole*  The 
plain  people  are  better  off  than  they  have  ever  been 
before.  The  insurance  companies,  which  are  practically 
mutual-benefit  societies — especially  .  helpful  to  men  of 
moderate  means  —  represent  accunrujations  of  capital 
which  are  among  the  largest  in  this  country.  There 
are  more  deposits  in  the  savings  banks,  more  owners  of 
farms,  more  well-paid  wage  workers  in  this  country  now 


348  MESSAGES 

than  ever  before  in  our  history.  Of  course,  when  the 
conditions  have  favored  the  growth  of  so  much  that  was 
good,  they  have  also  favored  somewhat  the  growth  of 
what  was  evil.  It  is  eminently  necessary  that  we  should 
endeavor  to  cut  out  this  evil,  but  let  us  keep  a  due  sense 
of  proportion  ;  let  us  not,in  fixing  our  gaze  upon  the  lesser 
evil/orget  the  greater  good*  The  evils  are  real  and  some 
of  them  are  menacing,  but  they  are  the  outgrowth,  not  of 
misery  or  decadence,  but  of  prosperity  —  of  the  progress  of 
our  gigantic  industrial  development.  This  industrial  de 
velopment  must  not  be  checked,  but  side  by  side  with  it 
should  go  such  progressive  regulation  as  will  diminish  the 
evils.  We  should  fail  in  our  duty  if  we  did  not  try  to 
remedy  the  evils,  but  we  shall  succeed  only  if  we  pro 
ceed  patiently,  with  practical  common-sense  as  well  as 
resolution,  separating  the  good  from  the  bad  and  holding 
on  to  the  former  while  endeavoring  to  get  rid  of  the 


ln  my  Message  to  the  present  Congress  at  its  first  ses 
sion  I  discussed  at  length  the  question  of  the  regulation 
of  those  big  corporations  commonly  doing  an  interstate 
business,  often  with  some  tendency  to  monopoly,  which 
are  popularly  known  as  trusts.  The  experience  of  the 
past  year  has  emphasized,  in  my  opinion,  the  desirability 
of  the  steps  I  then  proposed.  A  fundamental  requisite 
of  social  efficiency  is  a  high  standard  of  individual  energy 
and  excellence  ;  but  this  is  in  no  wise  inconsistent  with 
power  to  act  in  combination  for  aims  which  can  not  so 
well  be  achieved  by  the  individual  acting  alone.  A  funda 
mental  base  of  civilization  is  the  inviolability  of  property  ; 
but  this  is  in  no  wise  inconsistent  with  the  right  of  society 
to  regulate  the  exercise  of  the  artificial  powers  which  it 
confers  upon  the  owners  of  property,  under  the  name  of 
corporate  franchises,  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  the 
misuse  of  these  powers.  Corporations,  and  especially 
combinations  of  corporations,  should  be  managed  under 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  349 

public  regulation.  Experience  has  shown  that  under  our 
system  of  government  the  necessary  supervision  can  not 
be  obtained  by  State  action.  It  must  therefore  be 
achieved  by  National  action.  Our  aim  is  not  to  do  away 
with  corporations;  on  the  contrary,  these  big  aggrega 
tions  are  an  inevitable  development  of  modern  industrial 
ism,  and  the  effort  to  destroy  them  would  be  futile  unless 
accomplished  in  ways  that  would  work  the  utmost  mis 
chief  to  the  entire  body  politic.  We  can  do  nothing  of 
good  in  the  way  of  regulating  and  supervising  these 
corporations  until  we  fix  clearly  in  our  minds  that  we  are 
not  attacking  the  corporations,  but  endeavoring  to  do 
away  with  any  evil  in  them.  We  are  not  hostile  to  them  ; 
we  are  merely  determined  that  they  shall  be  so  handled  as 
to  subserve  the  public  good.  We  draw  the  line  against 
misconduct,  not  against  wealth.  The  capitalist  who, 
alone  or  in  conjunction  with  his  fellows,  performs  some 
great  industrial  feat  by  which  he  wins  money  is  a  well 
doer,  not  a  wrongdoer,  provided  only  he  works  in  proper 
and  legitimate  lines.  We  wish  to  favor  such  a  man  when 
he  does  well.  We  wish  to  supervise  and  control  his 
actions  only  to  prevent  him  from  doing  ill.  Publicity  can 
do  no  harm  to  the  honest  corporation ;  and  we  need  not 
be  over-tender  about  sparing  the  dishonest  corporation. 
In  curbing  and  regulating  the  combinations  of  capital 
which  are  or  may  become  injurious  to  the  public,  we  must 
be  careful  not  to  stop  the  great  enterprises  which  have 
legitimately  reduced  the  cost  of  production,  not  to  aban 
don  the  place  which  our  country  has  won  in  the  leader 
ship  of  the  international  industrial  world,  not  to  strike 
down  wealth  with  the  result  of  closing  factories  and 
mines,  of  turning  the  wage  worker  idle  in  the  streets,  and 
leaving  the  farmer  without  a  market  for  what  he  grows. 
Insistence  upon  the  impossible  means  delay  in  achieving 
the  possible,  exactly  as,  on  the  other  hand,  the  stubborn 
defence  alike  of  what  is  good  and  what  is  bad  in  the 


350 


MESSAGES 


existing  system,  the  resolute  effort  to  obstruct  any  attempt 
at  betterment,  betrays  blindness  to  the  historic  truth  that 
wise  evolution  is  the  sure  safeguard  against  revolution, 

No  more  important  subject  can  come  before  the  Con 
gress  than  this  of  the  regulation  of  interstate  business. 
This  country  can  not  afford  to  sit  supine  on  the  plea  that 
under  our  peculiar  system  of  government  we  are  help 
less  in  the  presence  of  the  new  conditions,  and  unable  to 
grapple  with  them  or  to  cut  out  whatever  of  evil  has  arisen 
in  connection  with  them.  The  power  of  the  Congress 
to  regulate  interstate  commerce  is  an  absolute  and  un 
qualified  grant,  and  without  limitations  other  than  those 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  The  Congress  has  con 
stitutional  authority  to  make  all  laws  necessary  and  proper 
for  executing  this  power,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  this 
power  has  not  been  exhausted  by  any  legislation  now  on 
the  statute  books.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  evils  re 
strictive  of  commercial  freedom  and  entailing  restraint 
upon  national  commerce  fall  within  the  regulative  power 
of  the  Congress,  and  that  a  wise  and  reasonable  law 
would  be  a  necessary  and  proper  exercise  of  Congressional 
authority,  to  the  end  that  such  evils  should  be  eradicated. 

I  believe  that  monopolies,  unjust  discriminations,  which 
prevent  or  cripple  competition,  fraudulent  over-capitaliza 
tion,  and  other  evils  in  trust  organizations  and  practices 
which  injuriously  affect  interstate  trade  can  be  prevented, 
under  the  power  of  the  Congress  to  "regulate  commerce 
with  foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States," 
through  regulations  and  requirements  operating  directly 
upon  such  commerce,  the  instrumentalities  thereof,  and 
those  engaged  therein. 

I  earnestly  recommend  this  subject  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Congress  with  a  view  to  the  passage  of  a  law;  reason 
able  in  its  provisions  and  effective  in  its  operations,  upon 
which  the  questions  can  be  finally  ^adjudicated  that  now 
raise  doubts  as  to  the  necessity  of  constitutional  amend- 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  351 

ment.  If  it  prove  impossible  to  accomplish  the  purposes 
above  set  forth  by  such  a  law,  then,  assuredly,  we  should 
not  shrink  from  amending  the  Constitution  so  as  to 
secure  beyond  peradventure?the  power  sought. 

The  Congress  has  not  heretofore  made  any  appropria 
tion  for  the  better  enforcement  of  the  anti-trust  law  as  it 
now  stands.  Very  much  has  been  done  by  the  Depart 
ment  of  Justice  in  securing  the  enforcement  of  this  law, 
but  much  more  could  be  done  if  the  Congress  would 
make  a  special  appropriation  for  this  purpose,  to  be  ex 
pended  under  the  direction  of  the  Attorney-General. 

One  proposition  advocated  has  been  the  reduction  of 
the  tariff  as  a  means  of  reaching  the  evils  of  the  trusts 
which  fall  within  the  category  I  have  described.  Not 
merely  would  this  be  wholly  ineffective,  but  the  diversion 
of  our  efforts  in  such  a  direction  would  mean  the  aban 
donment  of  all  intelligent  attempt  to  do  away  with  these 
evils.  Many  of  the  largest  corporations,  many  of  those 
which  should  certainly  be  included  in  any  proper  scheme 
of  regulation,  would  not  be  affected  in  the  slightest  degree 
by  a  change  in  the  tariff,  save  as  such  change  interfered 
with  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country.  The  only 
relation  of  the  tariff  to  big  corporations  as  a  whole  is  that 
the  tariff  makes  manufactures  profitable,  and  the  tariff 
remedy  proposed  would  be  in  effect  simply  to  make 
manufactures  unprofitable.  To  remove  the  tariff  as  a 
punitive  measure  directed  against  trusts  would  inevitably 
result  in  ruin  to  the  weaker  competitors  who  are  strug 
gling  against  them.  Our  aim  should  be^not  by  unwise 
tariff  changes  to  give  foreign  products  the  advantage  over 
domestic  products,  but  by  proper  regulation  to  give 
domestic  competition  a  fair  chance;  and  this  end  can 
not  be  reached  by  any  tariff  changes  which  would  affect 
unfavorably  all  domestic  competitors,  good  and  bad  alike. 
The  question  of  regulation  of  the  trusts  stands  apart  from 
the  question  of  tariff  revision. 


352 


MESSAGES 


Stability  of  economic  policy  must  always  be  the  prime 
economic  need  of  this  country.  This  stability  should  not 
be  fossilization.  The  country  has  acquiesced  in  the  wis 
dom  of  the  protective-tariff  principle.  It  is  exceedingly 
undesirable  that  this  system  should  be  destroyed  or  that 
there  should  be  violent  and  radical  changes  therein.  Our 
past  experience  shows  that  great  prosperity  in  this  coun 
try  has  always  come  under  a  protective  tariff;  and  that 
the  country  can  not  prosper  under  fitful  tariff  changes  at 
short  intervals.  Moreover,  if  the  tariff  laws  as  a  whole 
work  well,  and  if  business  has  prospered  under  them  and 
is  prospering,  it  is  better  to  endure  for  a  time  slight  in 
conveniences  and  inequalities  in  some  schedules  than  to 
upset  business  by  too  quick  and  too  radical  changes.  It 
is  most  earnestly  to  be  wished  that  we  could  treat  the 
tariff  from  the  standpoint  solely  of  our  business  needs. 
It  is,  perhaps,  too  much  to  hope  that  partisanship  may 
be  entirely  excluded  from  consideration  of  the  subject, 
but  at  least  it  can  be  made  secondary  to  the  business  in 
terests  of  the  country — that  is,  to  the  interests  of  our 
people  as  a  whole.  Unquestionably  these  business  inter 
ests  will  best  be  served  if  together  with  fixity  of  principle 
as  regards  the  tariff  we  combine  a  system  which  will  per 
mit  us  from  time  to  time  to  make  the  necessary  reapplica- 
tion  of  the  principle  to  the  shifting  national  needs.  We 
must  take  scrupulous  care  that  the  reapplication  shall  be 
made  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  not  amount  to  a  disloca 
tion  of  our  system,  the  mere  threat  of  which  (not  to  speak 
of  the  performance)  would  produce  paralysis  in  the  busi 
ness  energies  of  the  community.  The  first  consideration 
in  making  these  changes  would,  of  course,  be  to  preserve 
the  principle  which  underlies  our  whole  tariff  system — 
that  is,  the  principle  of  putting  American  business  inter 
ests  at  least  on  a  full  equality  with  interests  abroad,  and 
of  always  allowing  a  sufficient  rate  of  duty  to  more  than 
cover  the  difference  between  the  labor  cost  here  and 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  353 

abroad.  The  well-being  of  the  wage  worker,  like  the 
well-being  of  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  should  be  treated  as  an 
essential  in  shaping  our  whole  economic  policy.  There 
must  never  be  any  change  which  will  jeopardize  the 
standard  of  comfort,  the  standard  of  wages  of  the  Ameri 
can  wage  worker. 

One  way  in  which  the  readjustment  sought  can  be 
reached  is  by  reciprocity  treaties.  It  is  greatly  to  be  de 
sired  that  such  treaties  may  be  adopted.  They  can  be 
used  to  widen  our  markets  and  to  give  a  greater  field  for 
the  activities  of  our  producers  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  hand  to  secure  in  practical  shape  the  lowering 
of  duties  when  they  are  no  longer  needed  for  protection 
among  our  own  people,  or  when  the  minimum  of  damage 
done  may  be  disregarded  for  the  sake  of  the  maximum  of 
good  accomplished.  If  it  prove  impossible  to  ratify  the 
pending  treaties,  and  if  there  seem  to  be  no  warrant  for 
the  endeavor  to  execute  others,  or  to  amend  the  pending 
treaties  so  that  they  can  be  ratified,  then  the  same  end — 
to  secure  reciprocity — should  be  met  by  direct  legislation. 

Wherever  the  tariff  conditions  are  such  that  a  needed 
change  can  not  with  advantage  be  made  by  the  applica 
tion  of  the  reciprocity  idea,  then  it  can  be  made  outright 
by  a  lowering  of  duties  on  a  given  product.  If  possible, 
such  change  should  be  made  only  after  the  fullest  con 
sideration  by  practical  experts,  who  should  approach  the 
subject  from  a  business  standpoint,  having  in  view  both 
the  particular  interests  affected  and  the  commercial  well- 
being  of  the  people  as  a  whole.  The  machinery  for  pro 
viding  such  careful  investigation  can  readily  be  supplied. 
The  executive  department  has  already  at  its  disposal 
methods  of  collecting  facts  and  figures;  and  if  the  Con 
gress  desires  additional  consideration  to  that  which  will 
be  given  the  subject  by  its  own  committees,  then  a  com 
mission  of  business  experts  can  be  appointed  whose  duty 
it  should  be  to  recommend  action  by  the  Congress  after 


354  MESSAGES 

a  deliberate  and  scientific  examination  of  the  various 
schedules  as  they  are  affected  by  the  changed  and  chan 
ging  conditions.  The  unhurried  and  unbiased  report  of 
this  commission  would  show  what  changes  should  be 
made  in  the  various  schedules,  and  how  far  these  changes 
could  go  without  also  changing  the  great  prosperity  which 
this  country  is  now  enjoying,  or  upsetting  its  fixed  eco 
nomic  policy. 

The  cases  in  which  the  tariff  can  produce  a  monopoly 
are  so  few  as  to  constitute  an  inconsiderable  factor  in  the 
question ;  but  of  course  if  in  any  case  it  be  found  that  a 
given  rate  of  duty  does  promote  a  monopoly  which  works 
ill,  no  protectionist  would  object  to  such  reduction  of 
the  duty  as  would  equalize  competition. 

In  my  judgment,  the  tariff  on  anthracite  coal  should  be 
removed,  and  anthracite  put  actually,  where  it  now  is 
nominally,  on  the  free  list.  This  would  have  no  effect  at 
all  save  in  crises ;  but  in  crises  it  might  be  of  service  to 
the  people. 

Interest  rates  are  a  potent  factor  in  business  activity, 
and  in  order  that  these  rates  may  be  equalized  to  meet 
the  varying  needs  of  the  seasons  and  of  widely  separated 
communities,  and  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  financial 
stringencies  which  injuriously  affect  legitimate  business, 
it  is  necessary  that  there  should  be  an  element  of  elas 
ticity  in  our  monetary  system.  Banks  are  the  natural 
servants  of  commerce,  and  upon  them  should  be  placed, 
as  far  as  practicable,  the  burden  of  furnishing  and  main 
taining  a  circulation  adequate  to  supply  the  needs  of  our 
diversified  industries  and  of  our  domestic  and  foreign 
commerce ;  and  the  issue  of  this  should  be  so  regulated 
that  a  sufficient  supply  should  be  always  available  for  the 
business  interests  of  the  country. 

It  would  be  both  unwise  and  unnecessary  at  this  time 
to  attempt  to  reconstruct  our  financial  system,  which 


57 TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  355 

been  the  growth  of  a  century;  but  some  additional  legis 
lation  is,  I  think,  desirable.  The  mere  outline  of  any  plan 
sufficiently  comprehensive  to  meet  these  requirements 
would  transgress  the  appropriate  limits  of  this  communi 
cation.  It  is  suggested,  however,  that  all  future  legisla 
tion  on  the  subject  should  be  with  the  view  of  encouraging 
the  use  of  such  instrumentalities  as  will  automatically 
supply  every  legitimate  demand  of  productive  industries 
and  of  commerce,  not  only  in  the  amount,  but  in  the 
character  of  circulation ;  and  of  making  all  kinds  of  money 
interchangeable,  and,  at  the  will  of  the  holder,  convertible 
into  the  established  gold  standard. 

I  again  call  your  attention  to  the  need  of  passing  a 
proper  immigration  law,  covering  the  points  outlined  in 
my  Message  to  you  at  the  first  session  of  the  present 
Congress ;  substantially  such  a  bill  has  already  passed  the 
House. 

How  to  secure  fair  treatment  alike  for  labor  and  for 
capital,  how  to  hold  in  check  the  unscrupulous  man, 
whether  employer  or  employee,  without  weakening  indi 
vidual  initiative,  without  hampering  and  cramping  the  in 
dustrial  development  of  the  country,  is  a  problem  fraught 
with  great  difficulties  and  one  which  it  is  of  the  highest 
importance  to  solve  on  lines  of  sanity  and  far-sighted 
common-sense  as  well  as  of  devotion  to  the  right.  This 
is  an  era  of  federation  and  combination.  Exactly  as 
business  men  find  they  must  often  work  through  corpora 
tions,  and  as  it  is  a  constant  tendency  of  these  corpora 
tions  to  grow  larger,  so  it  is  often  necessary  for  laboring 
men  to  work  in  federations,  and  these  have  become  im 
portant  factors  of  modern  industrial  life.  Both  kinds  of 
federation,  capitalistic  and  labor,  can  do  much  good,  and 
as  a  necessary  corollary  they  can  both  do  evil.  Opposi 
tion  to  each  kind  of  organization  should  take  the  form  of 
opposition  to  whatever  is  bad  in  the  conduct  of  any  given 


356  MESSAGES 

corporation  or  union — not  of  attacks  upon  corporations 
as  such  nor  upon  unions  as  such ;  for  some  of  the  most 
far-reaching  beneficent  work  for  our  people  has  been  ac 
complished  through  both  corporations  and  unions.  Each 
must  refrain  from  arbitrary  or  tyrannous  interference  with 
the  rights  of  others.  Organized  capital  and  organized 
labor  alike  should  remember  that  in  the  long  run  the  in- 
terest  of  each  must  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the 
interest  of  the  general  public ;  and  the  conduct  of  each 
must  conform  to  the  fundamental  rules  of  obedience  to 
the  law,  of  individual  freedom,  and  of  justice  and  fair  deal 
ing  toward  all.  Each  should  remember  that  in  addition 
to  power  it  must  strive  after  the  realization  of  healthy, 
lofty,  and  generous  ideals.  Every  employer,  every  wage 
worker,  must  be  guaranteed  his  liberty  and  his  right  to 
do  as  he  likes  with  his  property  or  his  labor  so  long  as  he 
does  not  infringe  upon  the  rights  of  others.  It  is  of  the 
highest  importance  that  employer  and  employee  alike 
should  endeavor  to  appreciate  each  the  viewpoint  of  the 
other  and  the  sure  disaster  that  will  come  upon  both  in 
the  long  run  if  either  grows  to  take  as  habitual  an  attitude 
of  sour  hostility  and  distrust  toward  the  other.  Few 
people  deserve  better  of  the  country  than  those  repre 
sentatives  both  of  capital  and  labor — and  there  are  many 
such — who  work  continually  to  bring  about  a  good  under 
standing  of  this  kind,  based  upon  wisdom  and  upon  broad 
and  kindly  sympathy  between  employers  and  employed. 
Above  all,  we  need  to  remember  that  any  kind  of  class 
animosity  in  the  political  world  is,  if  possible,  even  more 
wicked,  even  more  destructive  to  national  welfare,  than 
sectional,  race,  or  religious  animosity.  We  can  get  good 
government  only  upon  condition  that  we  keep  true  to  the 
principles  upon  which  this  Nation  was  founded,  and  judge 
each  man  not  as  a  part  of  a  class,  but  upon  his  individual 
merits.  All  that  we  have  a  right  to  ask  of  any  man,  rich 
or  poor,  whatever  his  creed,  his  occupation,  his  birthplace, 


CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  357 

or  his  residence,  is  that  he  shall  act  well  and  honorably  by 
his  neighbor  and  by  his  country.  We  are  neither  for  the 
rich  man  as  such  nor  for  the  poor  man  as  such ;  we  are 
for  the  upright  man,  rich  or  poor.  So  far  as  the  consti 
tutional  powers  of  the  National  Government  touch  these 
matters  of  general  and  vital  moment  to  the  Nation,  they 
should  be  exercised  in  conformity  with  the  principles 
above  set  forth. 

It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  a  secretary  of  commerce  may 
be  created,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet.  The  rapid  multi 
plication  of  questions  affecting  labor  and  capital,  the 
growth  and  complexity  of  the  organizations  through 
which  both  labor  and  capital  now  find  expression,  the 
steady  tendency  toward  the  employment  of  capital  in 
huge  corporations,  and  the  wonderful  strides  of  this 
country  toward  leadership  in  the  international  business 
world  justify  an  urgent  demand  for  the  creation  of  such 
a  position.  Substantially  all  the  leading  commercial 
bodies  in  this  country  have  united  in  requesting  its  crea 
tion.  It  is  desirable  that  some  such  measure  as  that 
which  has  already  passed  the  Senate  be  enacted  into  law. 
The  creation  of  such  a  department  would  in  itself  be  an 
advance  toward  dealing  with  and  exercising  supervision 
over  the  whole  subject  of  the  great  corporations  doing  an 
interstate  business;  and  with  this  end  in  view,  the  Con 
gress  should  endow  the  department  with  large  powers, 
which  could  be  increased  as  experience  might  show  the 
need. 

I  hope  soon  to  submit  to  the  Senate  a  reciprocity 
treaty  with  Cuba.  On  May  2Oth  last  the  United  States 
kept  its  promise  to  the  island  by  formally  vacating  Cuban 
soil  and  turning  Cuba  over  to  those  whom  her  own  people 
had  chosen  as  the  first  officials  of  the  new  Republic. 

Cuba  lies  at  our  doors,  and  whatever  affects  her  for 


358  MESSAGES 

good  or  for  ill  affects  us  also.  So  much  have  our  people 
felt  this  that  in  the  Platt  amendment  we  definitely  took 
the  ground  that  Cuba  must  hereafter  have  closer  political 
relations  with  us  than  with  any  other  power.  Thus  in  a 
sense  Cuba  has  become  a  part  of  our  international  political 
system.  This  makes  it  necessary  that  in  return  she 
should  be  given  some  of  the  benefits  of  becoming  part  of 
our  economic  system.  It  is,  from  our  own  standpoint,  a 
short-sighted  and  mischievous  policy  to  fail  to  recognize 
this  need.  Moreover,  it  is  unworthy  of  a  mighty  and 
generous  nation,  itself  the  greatest  and  most  successful 
republic  in  history,  to  refuse  to  stretch  out  a  helping 
hand  to  a  young  and  weak  sister  republic  just  entering 
upon  its  career  of  independence.  We  should  always  fear 
lessly  insist  upon  our  rights  in  the  face  of  the  strong,  and 
we  should  with  ungrudging  hand  do  our  generous  duty 
by  the  weak.  I  urge  the  adoption  of  reciprocity  with 
Cuba  not  only  because  it  is  eminently  for  our  own  interests 
to  control  the  Cuban  market  and  by  every  means  to  foster 
our  supremacy  in  the  tropical  lands  and  waters  south  of 
us,  but  also  because  we,  of  the  giant  republic  of  the  north, 
should  make  all  our  sister  nations  of  the  American  conti 
nent  feel  that  whenever  they  will  permit  it  we  desire  to 
show  ourselves  disinterestedly  and  effectively  their  friend. 

A  convention  with  Great  Britain  has  been  concluded, 
which  will  be  at  once  laid  before  the  Senate  for  ratifica 
tion,  providing  for  reciprocal  trade  arrangements  between 
the  United  States  and  Newfoundland  on  substantially  the 
lines  of  the  convention  formerly  negotiated  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  Mr.  Elaine.  I  believe  reciprocal  trade  rela 
tions  will  be  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  both  countries. 

As  civilization  grows,  warfare  becomes  less  and  less  the 
normal  condition  of  foreign  relations.  The  last  century 
has  seen  a  marked  diminution  of  wars  between  civilized 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  359 

powers ;  wars  with  uncivilized  powers  are  largely  mere 
matters  of  international  police  duty,  essential  for  the 
welfare  of  the  world.  Wherever  possible,  arbitration  or 
some  similar  method  should  be  employed  in  lieu  of  war 
to  settle  difficulties  between  civilized  nations,  although  as 
yet  the  world  has  not  progressed  sufficiently  to  render  it 
possible,  or  necessarily  desirable,  to  invoke  arbitration  in 
every  case.  The  formation  of  the  international  tribunal 
which  sits  at  The  Hague  is  an  event  of  good  omen  from 
which  great  consequences  for  the  welfare  of  all  mankind 
may  flow.  It  is  far  better,  where  possible,  to  invoke  such 
a  permanent  tribunal  than  to  create  special  arbitrators  for 
a  given  purpose. 

It  is  a  matter  of  sincere  congratulation  to  our  country 
that  the  United  States  and  Mexico  should  have  been  the 
first  to  use  the  good  offices  of  The  Hague  Court.  This 
was  done  last  summer  with  most  satisfactory  results  in 
the  case  of  a  claim  at  issue  between  us  and  our  sister  Re 
public.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  this  first  case 
will  serve  as  a  precedent  for  others,  in  which  not  only  the 
United  States  but  foreign  nations  may  take  advantage  of 
the  machinery  already  in  existence  at  The  Hague. 

I  commend  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the  Con 
gress  the  Hawaiian  fire  claims,  which  were  the  subject  of 
careful  investigation  during  the  last  session. 

V*y*»- 

The  Congress  has  wisely  provided  that  we  shall  build 
at  once  an  isthmian  canal,  if  possible  at  Panama.  The 
Attorney-General  reports  that  we  can  undoubtedly  ac 
quire  good  title  from  the  French  Panama  Canal  Company. 
Negotiations  are  now  pending  with  Colombia  to  secure 
her  assent  to  our  building  the  canal.  This  canal  will  be 
one  of  the  greatest  engineering  feats  of  the  twentieth 
century;  a  greater  engineering  feat  than  has  yet  been 
accomplished  during  the  history  of  mankind.  The  work 


36o  MESSAGES 

should  be  carried  out  as  a  continuing  policy  without  re 
gard  to  change  of  Administration ;  and  it  should  be  begun 
under  circumstances  which  will  make  it  a  matter  of  pride 
for  all  Administrations  to  continue  the  policy. 

The  canal  will  be  of  great  benefit  to  America,  and  of 
importance  to  all  the  world.  It  will  be  of  advantage  to 
us  industrially  and  also  as  improving  our  military  position. 
It  will  be  of  advantage  to  the  countries  of  tropical  Amer 
ica.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  all  of  these  countries 
will  do  as  some  of  them  have  already  done  with  signal 
success,  and  will  invite  to  their  shores  commerce  and 
improve  their  material  conditions  by  recognizing  that 
stability  and  order  are  the  prerequisites  of  successful  de 
velopment.  No  independent  nation  in  America  need 
have  the  slightest  fear  of  aggression  from  the  United 
States.  It  behooves  each  one  to  maintain  order  within 
its  own  borders  and  to  discharge  its  just  obligations  to 
foreigners.  When  this  is  done,  they  can  rest  assured 
that,  be  they  strong  or  weak,  they  have  nothing  to  dread 
from  outside  interference.  More  and  more  the  increasing 
interdependence  and  complexity  of  international  political 
and  economic  relations  render  it  incumbent  on  all  civilized 
and  orderly  powers  to  insist  on  the  proper  policing  of  the 
world. 

During  the  fall  of  1901  a  communication  was  addressed 
to  the  Secretary  of  State,  asking  whether  permission 
would  be  granted  by  the  President  to  a  corporation  to 
lay  a  cable  from  a  point  on  the  California  coast  to  the 
Philippine  Islands  by  way  of  Hawaii.  A  statement  of 
conditions  or  terms  upon  which  such  corporation  would 
undertake  to  lay  and  operate  a  cable  was  volunteered. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Congress  was  shortly  to  convene,  and 
Pacific-cable  legislation  had  been  the  subject  of  considera 
tion  by  the  Congress  for  several  years,  it  seemed  to  me 
wise  to  defer  action  upon  the  application  until  the  Con- 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  361 

gress  had  first  an  opportunity  to  act.  The  Congress  ad 
journed  without  taking  any  action,  leaving  the  matter  in 
exactly  the  same  condition  in  which  it  stood  when  the 
Congress  convened. 

Meanwhile  it  appears  that  the  Commercial  Pacific  Cable 
Company  had  promptly  proceeded  with  preparations  for 
laying  its  cable.  It  also  made  application  to  the  Presi 
dent  for  access  to  and  use  of  soundings  taken  by  the  U. 
S.  S.  Arero,  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  a  practicable 
route  for  a  trans-Pacific  cable,  the  company  urging  that 
with  access  to  these  soundings  it  could  complete  its  cable 
much  sooner  than  if  it  were  required  to  take  soundings 
upon  its  own  account.  Pending  consideration  of  this 
subject,  it  appeared  important  and  desirable  to  attach 
certain  conditions  to  the  permission  to  examine  and  use 
the  soundings,  if  it  should  be  granted. 

In  consequence  of  this  solicitation  of  the  cable  com 
pany,  certain  conditions  were  formulated,  upon  which  the 
President  was  willing  to  allow  access  to  these  soundings 
and  to  consent  to  the  landing  and  laying  of  the  cable, 
subject  to  any  alterations  or  additions  thereto  imposed  by 
the  Congress.  This  was  deemed  proper,  especially  as  it 
was  clear  that  a  cable  connection  of  some  kind  with 
China,  a  foreign  country,  was  a  part  of  the  company's 
plan.  This  course  was,  moreover,  in  accordance  with  a 
line  of  precedents,  including  President  Grant's  action  in 
the  case  of  the  first  French  cable,  explained  to  the  Con 
gress  in  his  Annual  Message  of  December,  1875,  and  the 
instance  occurring  in  1879  °f  tne  second  French  cable 
from  Brest  to  St.  Pierre,  with  a  branch  to  Cape  Cod. 

These  conditions  prescribed,  among  other  things,  a 
maximum  rate  for  commercial  messages  and  that  the 
company  should  construct  a  line  from  the  Philippine 
Islands  to  China,  there  being  at  present,  as  is  well  known, 
a  British  line  from  Manila  to  Hongkong. 

The  representatives  of  the  cable  company  kept  these 


362  MESSAGES 

conditions  long  under  consideration,  continuing,  in  the 
meantime,  to  prepare  for  laying  the  cable.  They  have, 
however,  at  length  acceded  to  them,  and  an  ail-American 
line  between  our  Pacific  coast  and  the  Chinese  Empire, 
by  way  of  Honolulu  and  the  Philippine  Islands,  is  thus 
provided  for,  and  is  expected  within  a  few  months  to  be 
ready  for  business. 

Among  the  conditions  is  one  reserving  the  power  of  the 
Congress  to  modify  or  repeal  any  or  all  of  them.  A  copy 
of  the  conditions  is  herewith  transmitted. 

Of  Porto  Rico,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the 
prosperity  of  the  island  and  the  wisdom  with  which  it  has 
been  governed  have  been  such  as  to  make  it  serve  as  an 
example  of  all  that  is  best  in  insular  administration. 

On  July  4th  last,  on  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-sixth 
anniversary  of  the  declaration  of  our  independence,  peace 
and  amnesty  were  promulgated  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 
Some  trouble  has  since  from  time  to  time  threatened  with 
the  Mohammedan  Moros,  but  with  the  late  insurrectionary 
Filipinos  the  war  has  entirely  ceased.  Civil  government 
has  now  been  introduced.  Not  only  does  each  Filipino 
enjoy  such  rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap 
piness  as  he  has  never  before  known  during  the  recorded 
history  of  the  islands,  but  the  people  taken  as  a  whole 
now  enjoy  a  measure  of  self-government  greater  than 
that  enjoyed  by  any  other  Orientals  under  their  own 
governments,  save  the  Japanese  alone.  We  have  not 
gone  too  far  in  granting  these  rights  of  liberty  and  self- 
government  ;  but  we  have  certainly  gone  to  the  limit  that 
in  the  interests  of  the  Philippine  people  themselves  it  was 
wise  or  just  to  go.  To  hurry  matters,  to  go  faster  than 
we  are  now  going,  would  entail  calamity  on  the  people  of 
the  islands.  No  policy  ever  entered  into  by  the  Ameri 
can  people  has  vindicated  itself  in  more  signal  manner 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  363 

than  the  policy  of  holding  the  Philippines.  The  triumph 
of  our  arms — above  all,  the  triumph  of  our  laws  and  prin 
ciples — has  come  sooner  than  we  had  any  right  to  expect. 
Too  much  praise  can  not  be  given  to  the  Army  for  what 
it  has  done  in  the  Philippines  both  in  warfare  and  from 
an  administrative  standpoint  in  preparing  the  way  for  civil 
government;  and  similar  credit  belongs  to  the  civil  au 
thorities  for  the  way  in  which  they  have  planted  the 
seeds  of  self-government  in  the  ground  thus  made  ready 
for  them.  The  courage,  the  unflinching  endurance,  the 
high  soldierly  efficiency,  and  the  general  kind-heartedness 
and  humanity  of  our  troops  have  been  strikingly  mani 
fested.  There  now  remain  only  some  fifteen  thousand 
troops  in  the  islands.  All  told,  over  one  hundred  thou 
sand  have  been  sent  there.  Of  course,  there  have  been 
individual  instances  of  wrongdoing  among  them.  They 
warred  under  fearful  difficulties  of  climate  and  surround 
ings;  and  under  the  strain  of  the  terrible  provocations 
which  they  continually  received  from  their  foes,  occa 
sional  instances  of  cruel  retaliation  occurred.  Every 
effort  has  been  made  to  prevent  such  cruelties,  and  finally 
these  efforts  have  been  completely  successful.  Every 
effort  has  also  been  made  to  detect  and  punish  the 
wrongdoers.  After  making  all  allowance  for  these  mis 
deeds,  it  remains  true  that  few  indeed  have  been  the  in 
stances  in  which  war  has  been  waged  by  a  civilized  power 
against  semi-civilized  or  barbarous  forces  where  there  has 
been  so  little  wrongdoing  by  the  victors  as  in  the  Philip 
pine  Islands.  On  the  other  hand,  the  amount  of  difficult, 
important,  and  beneficent  work  which  has  been  done  is 
well-nigh  incalculable. 

Taking  the  work  of  the  Army  and  the  civil  authorities 
together,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  anywhere  else  in 
modern  times  the  world  has  seen  a  better  example  of  real 
constructive  statesmanship  than  our  people  have  given  in 
the  Philippine  Islands.  High  praise  should  also  be  given 


364  MESSAGES 

those  Filipinos,  in  the  aggregate  very  numerous,  who 
have  accepted  the  new  conditions  and  joined  with  our 
representatives  to  work  with  hearty  good-will  for  the 
welfare  of  the  islands. 

The  Army  has  been  reduced  to  the  minimum  allowed 
by  law.  It  is  very  small  for  the  size  of  the  Nation,  and 
most  certainly  should  be  kept  at  the  highest  point  of 
efficiency.  The  senior  officers  are  given  scant  chance 
under  ordinary  conditions  to  exercise  commands  com 
mensurate  with  their  rank,  under  circumstances  which 
would  fit  them  to  do  their  duty  in  time  of  actual  war.  A 
system  of  manoeuvring  our  Army  in  bodies  of  some  little 
size  has  been  begun  and  should  be  steadily  continued. 
Without  such  manoeuvres  it  is  folly  to  expect  that  in  the 
event  of  hostilities  with  any  serious  foe  even  a  small  army 
corps  could  be  handled  to  advantage.  Both  our  officers 
and  enlisted  men  are  such  that  we  can  take  hearty  pride 
in  them.  No  better  material  can  be  found.  But  they 
must  be  thoroughly  trained,  both  as  individuals  and  in 
the  mass.  The  marksmanship  of  the  men  must  receive 
special  attention.  In  the  circumstances  of  modern  war 
fare  the  man  must  act  far  more  on  his  own  individual 
responsibility  than  ever  before,  and  the  high  individual 
efficiency  of  the  unit  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  For 
merly  this  unit  was  the  regiment ;  it  is  now  not  the  regi 
ment,  not  even  the  troop  or  company ;  it  is  the  individual 
soldier.  Every  effort  must  be  made  to  develop  every 
workmanlike  and  soldierly  quality  in  both  the  officer  and 
the  enlisted  man. 

I  urgently  call  your  attention  to  the  need  of  passing  a 
bill  providing  for  a  general  staff  and  for  the  reorganization 
of  the  supply  departments  on  the  lines  of  the  bill  pro 
posed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  last  year.  When  the 
young  officers  enter  the  Army  from  West  Point  they 
probably  stand  above  their  compeers  in  any  other  mili 
tary  service.  Every  effort  should  be  made,  by  training, 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  365 

by  reward  of  merit,  by  scrutiny  into  their  careers  and  ca 
pacity,  to  keep  them  of  the  same  high  relative  excellence 
throughout  their  careers. 

The  measure  providing  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
militia  system  and  for  securing  the  highest  efficiency  in 
the  National  Guard,  which  has  already  passed  the  House, 
should  receive  prompt  attention  and  action.  It  is  of 
great  importance  that  the  relation  of  the  National  Guard 
to  the  militia  and  volunteer  forces  of  the  United  States 
should  be  defined,  and  that  in  place  of  our  present  obso 
lete  laws  a  practical  and  efficient  system  should  be  adopted. 

Provision  should  be  made  to  enable  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  keep  cavalry  and  artillery  horses,  worn-out  in 
long  performance  of  duty.  Such  horses  fetch  but  a 
trifle  when  sold;  and  rather  than  turn  them  out  to  the 
misery  awaiting  them  when  thus  disposed  of,  it  would  be 
better  to  employ  them  at  light  work  around  the  posts, 
and  when  necessary  to  put  them  painlessly  to  death. 

For  the  first  time  in  our  history  naval  manoeuvres  on  a 
large  scale  are  being  held  under  the  immediate  command 
of  the  Admiral  of  the  Navy.  Constantly  increasing  at 
tention  is  being  paid  to  the  gunnery  of  the  Navy,  but  it 
is  yet  far  from  what  it  should  be.  I  earnestly  urge  that 
the  increase  asked  for  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in 
the  appropriation  for  improving  the  marksmanship  be 
granted.  In  battle  the  only  shots  that  count  are  the 
shots  that  hit.  It  is  necessary  to  provide  ample  funds 
for  practice  with  the  great  guns  in  time  of  peace.  These 
funds  must  provide  not  only  for  the  purchase  of  pro 
jectiles,  but  for  allowances  for  prizes  to  encourage  the 
gun  crews,  and  especially  the  gun  pointers,  and  for  per 
fecting  an  intelligent  system  under  which  alone  it  is 
possible  to  get  good  practice. 

There  should  be  no  halt  in  the  work  of  building  up  the 
Navy,  providing  every  year  additional  fighting  craft. 


366  MESSAGES 

We  are  a  very  rich  country,  vast  in  extent  of  territory 
and  great  in  population ;  a  country,  moreover,  which  has 
an  Army  diminutive  indeed  when  compared  with  that  of 
any  other  first-class  power.  We  have  deliberately  made 
our  own  certain  foreign  policies  which  demand  the  pos 
session  of  a  first-class  navy.  The  Isthmian  Canal  will 
greatly  increase  the  efficiency  of  our  Navy  if  the  Navy  is 
of  sufficient  size;  but  if  we  have  an  inadequate  Navy, 
then  the  building  of  the  canal  would  be  merely  giving  a 
hostage  to  any  power  of  superior  strength.  The  Monroe 
Doctrine  should  be  treated  as  the  cardinal  feature  of 
American  foreign  policy ;  but  it  would  be  worse  than  idle 
to  assert  it  unless  we  intended  to  back  it  up,  and  it  can 
be  backed  up  only  by  a  thoroughly  good  navy.  A  good 
navy  is  not  a  provocative  of  war.  It  is  the  surest  guar 
anty  of  peace. 

Each  individual  unit  of  our  Navy  should  be  the  most 
efficient  of  its  kind  as  regards  both  material  and  personnel 
that  is  to  be  found  in  the  world.  I  call  your  special  at 
tention  to  the  need  of  providing  for  the  manning  of  the 
ships.  Serious  trouble  threatens  us  if  we  can  not  do 
better  than  we  are  now  doing  as  regards  securing  the  ser 
vices  of  a  sufficient  number  of  the  highest  type  of  sailor- 
men,  of  sea  mechanics.  The  veteran  seamen  of  our 
warships  are  of  as  high  a  type  as  can  be  found  in  any  navy 
which  rides  the  waters  of  the  world ;  they  are  unsurpassed 
in  daring,  in  resolution,  in  readiness,  in  thorough  knowl 
edge  of  their  profession.  They  deserve  every  considera 
tion  that  can  be  shown  them.  But  there  are  not  enough 
of  them.  It  is  no  more  possible  to  improvise  a  crew  than 
it  is  possible  to  improvise  a  warship.  To  build  the  finest 
ship,  with  the  deadliest  battery,  and  to  send  it  afloat  with 
a  raw  crew,  no  matter  how  brave  they  were  individually, 
would  be  to  insure  disaster  if  a  foe  of  average  capacity 
were  encountered.  Neither  ships  nor  men  can  be  impro 
vised  when  war  has  begun. 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          367 

We  need  a  thousand  additional  officers  in  order  to 
properly  man  the  ships  now  provided  for  and  under  con 
struction.  The  classes  at  the  Naval  School  should  be 
greatly  enlarged.  At  the  same  time  that  we  thus  add 
the  officers  where  we  need  them,  we  should  facilitate  the 
retirement  of  those  at  the  head  of  the  list  whose  useful 
ness  has  become  impaired.  Promotion  must  be  fostered 
if  the  service  is  to  be  kept  efficient. 

The  lamentable  scarcity  of  officers,  and  the  large  num 
ber  of  recruits  and  of  unskilled  men  necessarily  put  aboard 
the  new  vessels  as  they  have  been  commissioned,  have 
thrown  upon  our  officers,  and  especially  on  the  lieuten 
ants  and  junior  grades,  unusual  labor  and  fatigue  and  have 
gravely  strained  their  powers  of  endurance.  Nor  is  there 
sign  of  any  immediate  let-up  in  this  strain.  It  must  con 
tinue  for  some  time  longer,  until  more  officers  are  gradu 
ated  from  Annapolis,  and  until  the  recruits  become  trained 
and  skilful  in  their  duties.  In  these  difficulties  incident 
upon  the  development  of  our  war  fleet  the  conduct  of  all 
our  officers  has  been  creditable  to  the  service,  and  the 
lieutenants  and  junior  grades  in  particular  have  displayed 
an  ability  and  a  steadfast  cheerfulness  which  entitles  them 
to  the  ungrudging  thanks  of  all  who  realize  the  disheart 
ening  trials  and  fatigues  to  which  they  are  of  necessity 
subjected. 

There  is  not  a  cloud  on  the  horizon  at  present.  There 
seems  not  the  slightest  chance  of  trouble  with  a  foreign 
power.  We  most  earnestly  hope  that  this  state  of  things 
may  continue;  and  the  way  to  insure  its  continuance  is 
to  provide  for  a  thoroughly  efficient  navy.  The  refusal 
to  maintain  such  a  navy  would  invite  trouble,  and  if 
trouble  came  would  insure  disaster.  Fatuous  self-com 
placency  or  vanity,  or  short-sightedness  in  refusing  to 
prepare  for  danger,  is  both  foolish  and  wicked  in  such  a 
nation  as  ours ;  and  past  experience  has  shown  that  such 
fatuity  in  refusing  to  recognize  or  prepare  for  any  crisis 


368  MESSAGES 

in  advance  is  usually  succeeded  by  a  mad  panic  of  hys 
terical  fear,  once  the  crisis  has  actually  arrived. 

The  striking  increase  in  the  revenues  of  the  Post-Office 
Department  shows  clearly  the  prosperity  of  our  people 
and  the  increasing  activity  of  the  business  of  the  country. 

The  receipts  of  the  Post-Office  Department  for  the 
fiscal  year  ending  June  3Oth  last  amounted  to  $121,848,- 
047.26,  an  increase  of  $10,216,853.87  over  the  preceding 
year,  the  largest  increase  known  in  the  history  of  the 
postal  service.  The  magnitude  of  this  increase  will  best 
appear  from  the  fact  that  the  entire  postal  receipts  for 
the  year  1860  amounted  to  but  $8,518,067. 

Rural  free-delivery  service  is  no  longer  in  the  experi 
mental  stage ;  it  has  become  a  fixed  policy.  The  results 
following  its  introduction  have  fully  justified  the  Congress 
in  the  large  appropriations  made  for  its  establishment  and 
extension.  The  average  yearly  increase  in  post-office  re 
ceipts  in  the  rural  districts  of  the  country  is  about  two 
per  cent.  We  are  now  able,  by  actual  results,  to  show 
that  where  rural  free-delivery  service  has  been  established 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  enable  us  to  make  comparisons 
the  yearly  increase  has  been  upward  of  ten  per  cent. 

On  November  I,  1902,  11,650  rural  free-delivery  routes 
had  been  established  and  were  in  operation,  covering 
about  one-third  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
available  for  rural  free-delivery  service.  There  are  now 
awaiting  the  action  of  the  Department  petitions  and 
applications  for  the  establishment  of  10,748  additional 
routes.  This  shows  conclusively  the  want  which  the 
establishment  of  the  service  has  met  and  the  need  of 
further  extending  it  as  rapidly  as  possible.  It  is  justified 
both  by  the  financial  results  and  by  the  practical  benefits 
to  our  rural  population ;  it  brings  the  men  who  live  on 
the  soil  into  close  relations  with  the  active  business  world  ; 
it  keeps  the  farmer  in  daily  touch  with  the  markets ;  it  is 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  369 

a  potential  educational  force;  it  enhances  the  value  of 
farm  property,  makes  farm  life  far  pleasanter  and  less 
isolated,  and  will  do  much  to  check  the  undesirable  cur 
rent  from  country  to  city. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Congress  will  make  liberal 
appropriations  for  the  continuance  of  the  service  already 
established  and  for  its  further  extension. 

Few  subjects  of  more  importance  have  been  taken  up 
by  the  Congress  in  recent  years  than  the  inauguration  of 
the  system  of  nationally-aided  irrigation  for  the  arid 
regions  of  the  far  West.  A  good  beginning  therein  has 
been  made.  Now  that  this  policy  of  national  irrigation 
has  been  adopted,  the  need  of  thorough  and  scientific 
forest  protection  will  grow  more  rapidly  than  ever 
throughout  the  public-land  States. 

Legislation  should  be  provided  for  the  protection  of 
the  game,  and  the  wild  creatures  generally,  on  the  forest 
reserves.  The  senseless  slaughter  of  game,  which  can 
by  judicious  protection  be  permanently  preserved  on  our 
national  reserves  for  the  people  as  a  whole,  should  be 
stopped  at  once.  It  is,  for  instance,  a  serious  count 
against  our  national  good  sense  to  permit  the  present 
practice  of  butchering  off  such  a  stately  and  beautiful 
creature  as  the  elk  for  its  antlers  or  tusks. 

So  far  as  they  are  available  for  agriculture,  and  to 
whatever  extent  they  may  be  reclaimed  under  the  national 
irrigation  law,  the  remaining  public  lands  should  be  held 
rigidly  for  the  home  builder,  the  settler  who  lives  on  his 
land,  and  for  no  one  else.  In  their  actual  use  the  desert- 
land  law,  the  timber  and  stone  law,  and  the  commutation 
clause  of  the  homestead  law  have  been  so  perverted  from 
the  intention  with  which  they  were  enacted  as  to  permit 
the  acquisition  of  large  areas  of  the  public  domain  for 
other  than  actual  settlers  and  the  consequent  prevention 
of  settlement.  Moreover,  the  approaching  exhaustion  of 


370  MESSAGES 

the  public  ranges  has  of  late  led  to  much  discussion  as  to 
the  best  manner  of  using  these  public  lands  in  the  West 
which  are  suitable  chiefly  or  only  for  grazing.  The  sound 
and  steady  development  of  the  West  depends  upon  the 
building  up  of  homes  therein.  Much  of  our  prosperity 
as  a  nation  has  been  due  to  the  operation  of  the  home 
stead  law.  On  the  other  hand,'  we  should  recognize  the 
fact  that  in  the  grazing  region  the  man  who  corresponds 
to  the  homesteader  may  be  unable  to  settle  permanently 
if  only  allowed  to  use  the  same  amount  of  pasture  land 
that  his  brother,  the  homesteader,  is  allowed  to  use  of 
arable  land.  One  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  fairly  rich 
and  well-watered  soil,  or  a  much  smaller  amount  of  irri 
gated  land,  may  keep  a  family  in  plenty,  whereas  no  one 
could  get  a  living  from  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
dry  pasture  land  capable  of  supporting  at  the  outside  only 
one  head  of  cattle  to  every  ten  acres.  In  the  past  great 
tracts  of  the  public  domain  have  been  fenced  in  by  per 
sons  having  no  title  thereto,  in  direct  defiance  of  the  law 
forbidding  the  maintenance  or  construction  of  any  such 
unlawful  inclosure  of  public  land.  For  various  reasons 
there  has  been  little  interference  with  such  inclosures  in 
the  past,  but  ample  notice  has  now  been  given  the  tres 
passers,  and  all  the  resources  at  the  command  of  the 
Government  will  hereafter  be  used  to  put  a  stop  to  such 
trespassing. 

In  view  of  the  capital  importance  of  these  matters,  I 
commend  them  to  the  earnest  consideration  of  the  Con 
gress,  and  if  the  Congress  finds  difficulty  in  dealing  with 
them  from  lack  of  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject,  I 
recommend  that  provision  be  made  for  a  commission  of 
experts  specially  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  com 
plicated  questions  involved. 

I  especially  urge  upon  the  Congress  the  need  of  wise 
legislation  for  Alaska.  It  is  not  to  our  credit  as  a  nation 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  371 

that  Alaska,  which  has  been  ours  for  thirty-five  years, 
should  still  have  as  poor  a  system  of  laws  as  is  the  case. 
No  country  has  a  more  valuable  possession — in  mineral 
wealth,  in  fisheries,  furs,  forests,  and  also  in  land  available 
for  certain  kinds  of  farming  and  stock-growing.  It  is  a 
territory  of  great  size  and  varied  resources,  well  fitted  to 
support  a  large  permanent  population.  Alaska  needs  a 
good  land  law  and  such  provisions  for  homesteads  and 
pre-emptions  as  will  encourage  permanent  settlement. 
We  should  shape  legislation  with  a  view  not  to  the  ex 
ploiting  and  abandoning  of  the  territory,  but  to  the 
building  up  of  homes  therein.  The  land  laws  should  be 
liberal  in  type,  so  as  to  hold  out  inducements  to  the 
actual  settler  whom  we  most  desire  to  see  take  possession 
of  the  country.  The  forests  of  Alaska  should  be  pro 
tected,  and,  as  a  secondary  but  still  important  matter, 
the  game  also,  and  at  the  same  time  it  is  imperative  that 
the  settlers  should  be  allowed  to  cut  timber,  under  proper 
regulations,  for  their  own  use.  Laws  should  be  enacted 
to  protect  the  Alaskan  salmon  fisheries  against  the  greed 
which  would  destroy  them.  They  should  be  preserved 
as  a  permanent  industry  and  food  supply.  Their  man 
agement  and  control  should  be  turned  over  to  the  Com 
mission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries.  Alaska  should  have  a 
delegate  in  the  Congress.  It  would  be  well  if  a  Con 
gressional  committee  could  visit  Alaska  and  investigate 
its  needs  on  the  ground. 

In  dealing  with  the  Indians  our  aim  should  be  their 
ultimate  absorption  into  the  body  of  our  people.  But  in 
many  cases  this  absorption  must  and  should  be  very 
slow.  In  portions  of  the  Indian  Territory  the  mixture 
of  blood  has  gone  on  at  the  same  time  with  progress  in 
wealth  and  education,  so  that  there  are  plenty  of  men 
with  varying  degrees  of  purity  of  Indian  blood  who  are 
absolutely  indistinguishable  in  point  of  social,  political, 


372 


MESSAGES 


and  economic  ability  from  their  white  associates.  There 
are  other  tribes  which  have  as  yet  made  no  perceptible 
advance  toward  such  equality.  To  try  to  force  such 
tribes  too  fast  is  to  prevent  their  going  forward  at  all. 
Moreover,  the  tribes  live  under  widely  different  con 
ditions.  Where  a  tribe  has  made  considerable  advance 
and  lives  on  fertile  farming  soil  it  is  possible  to  allot  the 
members  lands  in  severalty  much  as  is  the  case  with 
white  settlers.  There  are  other  tribes  where  such  a  course 
is  not  desirable.  On  the  arid  prairie  lands  the  effort 
should  be  to  induce  the  Indians  to  lead  pastoral  rather 
than  agricultural  lives,  and  to  permit  them  to  settle  in 
villages  rather  than  to  force  them  into  isolation. 

The  large  Indian  schools  situated  remote  from  any  In 
dian  reservation  do  a  special  and  peculiar  work  of  great 
importance.  But,  excellent  though  these  are,  an  im 
mense  amount  of  additional  work  must  be  done  on  the 
reservations  themselves  among  the  old,  and  above  all 
among  the  young,  Indians. 

The  first  and  most  important  step  toward  the  absorp 
tion  of  the  Indian  is  to  teach  him  to  earn  his  living;  yet 
it  is  not  necessarily  to  be  assumed  that  in  each  com 
munity  all  Indians  must  become  either  tillers  of  the  soil 
or  stock-raisers.  Their  industries  may  properly  be  diver 
sified,  and  those  who  show  special  desire  or  adaptability 
for  industrial  or  even  commercial  pursuits  should  be  en 
couraged  so  far  as  practicable  to  follow  out  each  his  own 
bent. 

Every  effort  should  be  made  to  develop  the  Indian 
along  the  lines  of  natural  aptitude,  and  to  encourage  the 
existing  native  industries  peculiar  to  certain  tribes,  such 
as  the  various  kinds  of  basket-weaving,  canoe-building, 
smithwork,  and  blanket-work.  Above  all,  the  Indian 
boys  and  girls  should  be  given  confident  command  of 
colloquial  English,  and  should  ordinarily  be  prepared  for 
a  vigorous  struggle  with  the  conditions  under  which  their 


57  TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          373 

people  live,  rather  than  for  immediate  absorption  into 
some  more  highly  developed  community. 

The  officials  who  represent  the  Government  in  dealing 
with  the  Indians  work  under  hard  conditions,  and  also 
under  conditions  which  render  it  easy  to  do  wrong  and 
very  difficult  to  detect  wrong.  Consequently  they  should 
be  amply  paid  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  hand  a 
particularly  high  standard  of  conduct  should  be  demanded 
from  them,  and  where  misconduct  can  be  proved  the 
punishment  should  be  exemplary. 

In  no  department  of  governmental  work  in  recent 
years  has  there  been  greater  success  than  in  that  of  giving 
scientific  aid  to  the  farming  population,  thereby  showing 
them  how  most  efficiently  to  help  themselves.  There  is 
no  need  of  insisting  upon  its  importance,  for  the  welfare 
of  the  farmer  is  fundamentally  necessary  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Republic  as  a  whole.  In  addition  to  such  work  as 
quarantine  against  animal  and  vegetable  plagues,  and 
warring  against  them  when  here  introduced,  much  efficient 
help  has  been  rendered  to  the  farmer  by  the  introduction 
of  new  plants  specially  fitted  for  cultivation  under  the 
peculiar  conditions  existing  in  different  portions  of  the 
country.  New  cereals  have  been  established  in  the  semi- 
arid  West.  For  instance,  the  practicability  of  producing 
the  best  types  of  macaroni  wheats  in  regions  of  an  annual 
rainfall  of  only  ten  inches  or  thereabouts  has  been  con 
clusively  demonstrated.  Through  the  introduction  of 
new  rices  in  Louisiana  and  Texas  the  production  of  rice 
in  this  country  has  been  made  to  about  equal  the  home 
demand.  In  the  Southwest  the  possibility  of  regrassing 
overstocked  range  lands  has  been  demonstrated ;  in  the 
North  many  new  forage  crops  have  been  introduced; 
while  in  the  East  it  has  been  shown  that  some  of  our 
choicest  fruits  can  be  stored  and  shipped  in  such  a  way 
as  to  find  a  profitable  market  abroad. 


374 


MESSAGES 


I  again  recommend  to  the  favorable  consideration  of 
the  Congress  the  plans  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  for 
making  the  Museum  under  its  charge  worthy  of  the  Na 
tion,  and  for  preserving  at  the  national  capital  not  only 
records  of  the  vanishing  races  of  men  but  of  the  animals 
of  this  continent  which,  like  the  buffalo,  will  soon  become 
extinct  unless  specimens  from  which  their  representatives 
may  be  renewed  are  sought  in  their  native  regions  and 
maintained  there  in  safety. 

The  District  of  Columbia  is  the  only  part  of  our  terri 
tory  in  which  the  National  Government  exercises  local  or 
municipal  functions,  and  where  in  consequence  the  Gov 
ernment  has  a  free  hand  in  reference  to  certain  types  of 
social  and  economic  legislation  which  must  be  essentially 
local  or  municipal  in  their  character.  The  Government 
should  see  to  it,  for  instance,  that  the  hygienic  and  sani 
tary  legislation  affecting  Washington  is  of  a  high  charac 
ter.  The  evils  of  slum  dwellings,  whether  in  the  shape 
of  crowded  and  congested  tenement-house  districts  or  of 
the  back-alley  type,  should  never  be  permitted  to  grow 
up  in  Washington.  The  city  should  be  a  model  in  every 
respect  for  all  the  cities  of  the  country.  The  charitable 
and  correctional  systems  of  the  District  should  receive 
consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  Congress  to  the  end  that 
they  may  embody  the  results  of  the  most  advanced 
thought  in  these  fields.  Moreover,  while  Washington  is 
not  a  great  industrial  city,  there  is  some  industrialism 
here,  and  our  labor  legislation,  while  it  would  not  be  im 
portant  in  itself,  might  be  made  a  model  for  the  rest  of 
the  Nation.  We  should  pass,  for  instance,  a  wise  em- 
ployer's-liability  act  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  we 
need  such  an  act  in  our  navy-yards.  Railroad  companies 
in  the  District  ought  to  be  required  by  law  to  block  their 
frogs. 

The  safety-appliance  law,  for  the  better  protection  of 


5? TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  375 

the  lives  and  limbs  of  railway  employees,  which  was 
passed  in  1893,  went  into  full  effect  on  August  I,  1901. 
It  has  resulted  in  averting  thousands  of  casualties.  Ex 
perience  shows,  however,  the  necessity  of  additional  legis 
lation  to  perfect  this  law.  A  bill  to  provide  for  this 
passed  the  Senate  at  the  last  session.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  some  such  measure  may  now  be  enacted  into  law. 

There  is  a  growing  tendency  to  provide  for  the  publica 
tion  of  masses  of  documents  for  which  there  is  no  public 
demand  and  for  the  printing  of  which  there  is  no  real 
necessity.  Large  numbers  of  volumes  are  turned  out  by 
the  Government  printing-presses  for  which  there  is  no 
justification.  Nothing  should  be  printed  by  any  of  the 
Departments  unless  it  contains  something  of  permanent 
value,  and  the  Congress  could  with  advantage  cut  down 
very  materially  on  all  the  printing  which  it  has  now  be 
come  customary  to  provide.  The  excessive  cost  of  Gov 
ernment  printing  is  a  strong  argument  against  the  position 
of  those  who  are  inclined  on  abstract  grounds  to  advocate 
the  Government's  doing  any  work  which  can  with  pro 
priety  be  left  in  private  hands. 

Gratifying  progress  has  been  made  during  the  year  in 
the  extension  of  the  merit  system  of  making  appoint 
ments  in  the  Government  service.  It  should  be  extended 
by  law  to  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  is  much  to  be  de 
sired  that  our  consular  system  be  established  by  law  on  a 
basis  providing  for  appointment  and  promotion  only  in 
consequence  of  proved  fitness. 

Through  a  wise  provision  of  the  Congress  at  its  last 
session  the  White  House,  which  had  become  disfigured 
by  incongruous  additions  and  changes,  has  now  been  re 
stored  to  what  it  was  planned  to  be  by  Washington.  In 
making  the  restorations  the  utmost  care  has  been  exer 
cised  to  come  as  near  as  possible  to  the  early  plans  and  to 


376  MESSAGES 

supplement  these  plans  by  a  careful  study  of  such  build 
ings  as  that  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  which  was  built 
by  Jefferson.  The  White  House  is  the  property  of  the 
Nation,  and  so  far  as  is  compatible  with  living  therein  it 
should  be  kept  as  it  originally  was,  for  the  same  reasons 
that  we  keep  Mount  Vernon  as  it  originally  was.  The 
stately  simplicity  of  its  architecture  is  an  expression  of 
the  character  of  the  period  in  which  it  was  built,  and  is  in 
accord  with  the  purposes  it  was  designed  to  serve.  It  is  a 
good  thing  to  preserve  such  buildings  as  historic  monu 
ments  which  keep  alive  our  sense  of  continuity  with  the 
Nation's  past. 

The  reports  of  the  several  Executive  Departments  are 
submitted  to  the  Congress  with  this  communication. 

WHITE  HOUSE,  December  2,  1902. 


MESSAGE  COMMUNICATED  TO  THE  TWO  HOUSES 
OF  CONGRESS  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
FIRST  SESSION  OF  THE  FIFTY-EIGHTH  CON 
GRESS 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : 

I  have  convened  the  Congress  that  it  may  consider  the 
legislation  necessary  to  put  into  operation  the  commercial 
treaty  with  Cuba,  which  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  at  its 
last  session,  and  subsequently  by  the  Cuban  Government. 
I  deem  such  legislation  demanded  not  only  by  our  interest 
but  by  our  honor.  We  can  not  with  propriety  abandon  the 
course  upon  which  we  have  so  wisely  embarked.  When 
the  acceptance  of  the  Platt  amendment  was  required  from 
Cuba  by  the  action  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
this  Government  thereby  definitely  committed  itself  to 
the  policy  of  treating  Cuba  as  occupying  a  unique  posi 
tion  as  regards  this  country.  It  was  provided  that  when 
the  island  became  a  free  and  independent  republic  she 
should  stand  in  such  close  relations  with  us  as  in  certain 
respects  to  come  within  our  system  of  international  policy ; 
and  it  necessarily  followed  that  she  must  also  to  a  certain 
degree  become  included  within  the  lines  of  our  economic 
policy.  Situated  as  Cuba  is,  it  would  not  be  possible  for 
this  country  to  permit  the  strategic  abuse  of  the  island 
by  any  foreign  military  power.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
certain  limitations  have  been  imposed  upon  her  financial 
policy,  and  that  naval  stations  have  been  conceded  by  her 
to  the  United  States.  The  negotiations  as  to  the  details 
of  these  naval  stations  are  on  the  eve  of  completion. 

377 


378  MESSAGES 

They  are  so  situated  as  to  prevent  any  idea  that  there  is 
the  intention  ever  to  use  them  against  Cuba,  or  otherwise 
than  for  the  protection  of  Cuba  from  the  assaults  of  for 
eign  foes,  and  for  the  better  safeguarding  of  American 
interests  in  the  waters  south  of  us. 

These  interests  have  been  largely  increased  by  the  con 
sequences  of  the  war  with  Spain,  and  will  be  still  further 
increased  by  the  building  of  the  isthmian  canal.  They 
are  both  military  and  economic.  The  granting  to  us  by 
Cuba  of  the  naval  stations  above  alluded  to  is  of  the  ut 
most  importance  from  a  military  standpoint,  and  is  proof 
of  the  good  faith  with  which  Cuba  is  treating  us.  Cuba 
has  made  great  progress  since  her  independence  was 
established.  She  has  advanced  steadily  in  every  way. 
She  already  stands  high  among  her  sister  republics  of  the 
New  World.  She  is  loyally  observing  her  obligations  to 
us ;  and  she  is  entitled  to  like  treatment  by  us. 

The  treaty  submitted  to  you  for  approval  secures  to 
the  United  States  economic  advantages  as  great  as  those 
given  to  Cuba.  Not  an  American  interest  is  sacrificed. 
By  the  treaty  a  large  Cuban  market  is  secured  to  our  pro 
ducers.  It  is  a  market  which  lies  at  our  doors,  which  is 
already  large,  which  is  capable  of  great  expansion,  and 
which  is  especially  important  to  the  development  of  our 
export  trade.  It  would  be  indeed  short-sighted  for  us  to 
refuse  to  take  advantage  of  such  an  opportunity,  and  to 
force  Cuba  into  making  arrangements  with  other  countries 
to  our  disadvantage. 

This  reciprocity  treaty  stands  by  itself.  It  is  demanded 
on  considerations  of  broad  national  policy  as  well  as  by 
our  economic  interest.  It  will  do  harm  to  no  industry. 
It  will  benefit  many  industries.  It  is  in  the  interest  of 
our  people  as  a  whole,  both  because  of  its  importance 
from  the  broad  standpoint  of  international  policy,  and 
because  economically  it  intimately  concerns  us  to  develop 
and  secure  the  rich  Cuban  market  for  our  farmers,  arti- 


58TH  CONGRESS,  iST  SESSION  379 

sans,  merchants,  and  manufacturers.  Finally,  it  is  de 
sirable  as  a  guaranty  of  the  good  faith  of  our  Nation 
towards  her  young  sister  Republic  to  the  south,  whose 
welfare  must  ever  be  closely  bound  with  ours.  We  gave 
her  liberty.  We  are  knit  to  her  by  the  memories  of  the 
blood  and  courage  of  our  soldiers  who  fought  for  her  in 
war;  by  the  memories  of  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  our 
administrators  who  served  her  in  peace  and  who  started 
her  so  well  on  the  difficult  path  of  self-government.  We 
must  help  her  onward  and  upward  ;  and  in  helping  her  we 
shall  help  ourselves. 

The  foregoing  considerations  caused  the  negotiation  of 
the  treaty  with  Cuba  and  its  ratification  by  the  Senate. 
They  now  with  equal  force  support  the  legislation  by  the 
Congress  which  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty  is  necessary  to 
render  it  operative.  A  failure  to  enact  such  legislation 
would  come  perilously  near  a  repudiation  of  the  pledged 
faith  of  the  Nation. 

I  transmit  herewith  the  treaty,  as  amended  by  the 
Senate  and  ratified  by  the  Cuban  Government. 

WHITE  HOUSE,  November  10,  1903. 


MESSAGE  COMMUNICATED  TO  THE  TWO  HOUSES 
OF  CONGRESS  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
SECOND  SESSION  OF  THE  FIFTY  -  EIGHTH 
CONGRESS 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : 

The  country  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  amount  of 
substantial  achievement  which  has  marked  the  past  year 
both  as  regards  our  foreign  and  as  regards  our  domestic 
policy. 

With  a  nation  as  with  a  man  the  most  important  things 
are  those  of  the  household,  and  therefore  the  country  is 
especially  to  be  congratulated  on  what  has  been  accom 
plished  in  the  direction  of  providing  for  the  exercise  of 
supervision  over  the  great  corporations  and  combinations 
of  corporations  engaged  in  interstate  commerce.  The 
Congress  has  created  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  including  the  Bureau  of  Corporations,  with  for 
the  first  time  authority  to  secure  proper  publicity  of  such 
proceedings  of  these  great  corporations  as  the  public  has 
the  right  to  know.  It  has  provided  for  the  expediting  of 
suits  for  the  enforcement  of  the  Federal  anti-trust  law; 
and  by  another  law  it  has  secured  equal  treatment  to  all 
producers  in  the  transportation  of  their  goods,  thus  taking 
a  long  stride  forward  in  making  effective  the  work  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 

The  establishment  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  with  the  Bureau  of  Corporations  thereunder, 
marks  a  real  advance  in  the  direction  of  doing  all  that  is 
possible  for  the  solution  of  the  questions  vitally  affecting 

380 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  381 

capitalists  and  wage  workers.  The  act  creating  the  De 
partment  was  approved  on  February  14,  1903,  and  two 
days  later  the  head  of  the  Department  was  nominated, 
and  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  Since  then  the  work  of 
organization  has  been  pushed  as  rapidly  as  the  initial  ap 
propriations  permitted,  and  with  due  regard  to  thorough 
ness  and  the  broad  purposes  which  the  Department  is 
designed  to  serve.  After  the  transfer  of  the  various 
bureaus  and  branches  to  the  Department  at  the  beginning 
of  the  current  fiscal  year,  as  provided  for  in  the  act,  the 
personnel  comprised  1289  employees  in  Washington  and 
8836  in  the  country  at  large.  The  scope  of  the  Depart 
ment's  duty  and  authority  embraces  the  commercial  and 
industrial  interests  of  the  Nation.  It  is  not  designed  to 
restrict  or  control  the  fullest  liberty  of  legitimate  busi 
ness  action,  but  to  secure  exact  and  authentic  information 
which  will  aid  the  Executive  in  enforcing  existing  laws, 
and  which  will  enable  the  Congress  to  enact  additional 
legislation,  if  any  should  be  found  necessary,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  few  from  obtaining  privileges  at  the  expense 
of  diminished  opportunities  for  the  many. 

The  preliminary  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Corporations  in 
the  Department  has  shown  the  wisdom  of  its  creation. 
Publicity  in  corporate  affairs  will  tend  to  do  away  with 
ignorance,  and  will  afford  facts  upon  which  intelligent 
action  may  be  taken.  Systematic,  intelligent  investiga 
tion  is  already  developing  facts  the  knowledge  of  which  is 
essential  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  needs  and  duties 
of  the  business  world.  The  corporation  which  is  honestly 
and  fairly  organized,  whose  managers  in  the  conduct  of 
its  business  recognize  their  obligation  to  deal  squarely 
with  their  stockholders,  their  competitors,  and  the  public, 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  such  supervision.  The  purpose  of 
this  Bureau  is  not  to  embarrass  or  assail  legitimate  busi 
ness,  but  to  aid  in  bringing  about  a  better  industrial  con 
dition — a  condition  under  which  there  shall  be  obedience 


382  MESSAGES 

to  law  and  recognition  of  public  obligation  by  all  cor 
porations,  great  or  small.  The  Department  of  Com 
merce  and  Labor  will  be  not  only  the  clearing  house  for 
information  regarding  the  business  transactions  of  the 
Nation,  but  the  executive  arm  of  the  Government  to  aid 
in  strengthening  our  domestic  and  foreign  markets,  in 
perfecting  our  transportation  facilities,  in  building  up  our 
merchant  marine,  in  preventing  the  entrance  of  undesira 
ble  immigrants,  in  improving  commercial  and  industrial 
conditions,  and  in  bringing  together  on  common  ground 
those  necessary  partners  in  industrial  progress — capital 
and  labor.  Commerce  between  the  nations  is  steadily 
growing  in  volume,  and  the  tendency  of  the  times  is 
toward  closer  trade  relations.  Constant  watchfulness  is 
needed  to  secure  to  Americans  the  chance  to  participate 
to  the  best  advantage  in  foreign  trade ;  and  we  may  con 
fidently  expect  that  the  new  Department  will  justify  the 
expectation  of  its  creators  by  the  exercise  of  this  watch 
fulness,  as  well  as  by  the  businesslike  administration  of 
such  laws  relating  to  our  internal  affairs  as  are  intrusted 
to  its  care. 

In  enacting  the  laws  above  enumerated  the  Congress 
proceeded  on  sane  and  conservative  lines.  Nothing  revo 
lutionary  was  attempted ;  but  a  common-sense  and  suc 
cessful  effort  was  made  in  the  direction  of  seeing  that 
corporations  are  so  handled  as  to  subserve  the  public 
good.  The  legislation  was  moderate.  It  was  character 
ized  throughout  by  the  idea  that  we  were  not  attacking 
corporations,  but  endeavoring  to  provide  for  doing  away 
with  any  evil  in  them ;  that  we  drew  the  line  against  mis 
conduct,  not  against  wealth ;  gladly  recognizing  the  great 
good  done  by  the  capitalist  who  alone,  or  in  conjunction 
with  his  fellows,  does  his  work  along  proper  and  legitimate 
lines.  The  purpose  of  the  legislation,  which  purpose  will 
undoubtedly  be  fulfilled,  was  to  favor  such  a  man  when 
he  does  well,  and  to  supervise  his  action  only  to  prevent 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  383 

him  from  doing  ill.  Publicity  can  do  no  harm  to  the 
honest  corporation.  The  only  corporation  that  has  cause 
to  dread  it  is  the  corporation  which  shrinks  from  the  light, 
and  about  the  welfare  of  such  corporations  we  need  not 
be  over-sensitive.  The  work  of  the  Department  of  Com 
merce  and  Labor  has  been  conditioned  upon  this  theory, 
of  securing  fair  treatment  alike  for  labor  and  for  capital. 
The  consistent  policy  of  the  National  Government,  so 
far  as  it  has  the  power,  is  to  hold  in  check  the  unscrupu 
lous  man,  whether  employer  or  employee;  but  to  refuse 
to  weaken  individual  initiative  or  to  hamper  or  cramp  the 
industrial  development  of  the  country.  We  recognize 
that  this  is  an  era  of  federation  and  combination,  in 
which  great  capitalistic  corporations  and  labor  unions 
have  become  factors  of  tremendous  importance  in  all 
industrial  centres.  Hearty  recognition  is  given  the  far- 
reaching,  beneficent  work  which  has  been  accomplished 
through  both  corporations  and  unions,  and  the  line  as  be 
tween  different  corporations,  as  between  different  unions, 
is  drawn  as  it  is  between  different  individuals — that  is,  it 
is  drawn  on  conduct,  the  effort  being  to  treat  both  organ 
ized  capital  and  organized  labor  alike;  asking  nothing 
save  that  the  interest  of  each  shall  be  brought  into  har 
mony  with  the  interest  of  the  general  public,  and  that  the 
conduct  of  each  shall  conform  to  the  fundamental  rules 
of  obedience  to  law,  of  individual  freedom,  and  of  justice 
and  fair  dealing  towards  all.  Whenever  either  corpora 
tion,  labor  union,  or  individual  disregards  the  law  or  acts 
in  a  spirit  of  arbitrary  and  tyrannous  interference  with 
the  rights  of  others,  whether  corporations  or  individuals, 
then,  where  the  Federal  Government  has  jurisdiction,  it 
will  see  to  it  that  the  misconduct  is  stopped,  paying  not 
the  slightest  heed  to  the  position  or  power  of  the  corpora 
tion,  the  union,  or  the  individual,  but  only  to  one  vital 
fact — that  is,  the  question  whether  or  not  the  conduct  of 
the  individual  or  aggregate  of  individuals  is  in  accordance 


384  MESSAGES 

with  the  law  of  the  land.  Every  man  must  be  guaranteed 
his  liberty  and  his  right  to  do  as  he  likes  with  his  property 
or  his  labor,  so  long  as  he  does  not  infringe  the  rights  of 
others.  No  man  is  above  the  law  and  no  man  is  below 
it;  nor  do  we  ask  any  man's  permission  when  we  require 
him  to  obey  it.  Obedience  to  the  law  is  demanded  as  a 
right ;  not  asked  as  a  favor. 

We  have  cause  as  a  nation  to  be  thankful  for  the  steps 
that  have  been  so  successfully  taken  to  put  these  princi 
ples  into  effect.  The  progress  has  been  by  evolution,  not 
by  revolution.  Nothing  radical  has  been  done ;  the  action 
has  been  both  moderate  and  resolute.  Therefore  the 
work  will  stand.  There  shall  be  no  backward  step.  If 
in  the  working  of  the  laws  it  proves  desirable  that  they 
shall  at  any  point  be  expanded  or  amplified,  the  amend 
ment  can  be  made  as  its  desirability  is  shown.  Mean 
while  they  are  being  administered  with  judgment,  but 
with  insistence  upon  obedience  to  them ;  and  their  need 
has  been  emphasized  in  signal  fashion  by  the  events  of 
the  past  year. 

From  all  sources,  exclusive  of  the  postal  service,  the 
receipts  of  the  Government  for  the  last  fiscal  year  aggre 
gated  $560, 396,674.  The  expenditures  for  the  same  period 
were  $506,099,007,  the  surplus  for  the  fiscal  year  being 
$54,297,667.  The  indications  are  that  the  surplus  for  the 
present  fiscal  year  will  be  very  small,  if  indeed  there  be 
any  surplus.  From  July  to  November  the  receipts  from 
customs  were,  approximately,  nine  million  dollars  less 
than  the  receipts  from  the  same  source  for  a  correspond 
ing  portion  of  last  year.  Should  this  decrease  continue 
at  the  same  ratio  throughout  the  fiscal  year,  the  surplus- 
would  be  reduced  by,  approximately,  thirty  million  dol 
lars.  Should  the  revenue  from  customs  suffer  much 
further  decrease  during  the  fiscal  year,  the  surplus  would 
vanish  A  large  surplus  is  certainly  undesirable.  Two 
years  ago  the  war  taxes  were  taken  off  with  the  express 


58TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          385 

intention  of  equalizing  the  governmental  receipts  and 
expenditures,  and  though  the  first  year  thereafter  still 
showed  a  surplus,  it  now  seems  likely  that  a  substantial 
equality  of  revenue  and  expenditure  will  be  attained. 
Such  being  the  case  it  is  of  great  moment  both  to  exercise 
care  and  economy  in  appropriations,  and  to  scan  sharply 
any  change  in  our  fiscal  revenue  system  which  may  reduce 
our  income.  The  need  of  strict  economy  in  our  expendi 
tures  is  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  we  can  not  afford  to 
be  parsimonious  in  providing  for  what  is  essential  to  our 
national  well-being.  Careful  economy  wherever  possible 
will  alone  prevent  our  income  from  falling  below  the  point 
required  in  order  to  meet  our  genuine  needs. 

The  integrity  of  our  currency  is  beyond  question,  and 
under  present  conditions  it  would  be  unwise  and  unneces 
sary  to  attempt  a  reconstruction  of  our  entire  monetary 
system.  The  same  liberty  should  be  granted  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  deposit  customs  receipts  as  is 
granted  him  in  the  deposit  of  receipts  from  other  sources. 
In  my  Message  of  December  2,  1902,  I  called  attention 
to  certain  needs  of  the  financial  situation,  and  I  again  ask 
the  consideration  of  the  Congress  for  these  questions. 

During  the  last  session  of  the  Congress,  at  the  sugges 
tion  of  a  joint  note  from  the  Republic  of  Mexico  and  the 
Imperial  Government  of  China,  and  in  harmony  with  an 
act  of  the  Congress  appropriating  $25,000  to  pay  the  ex 
penses  thereof,  a  commission  was  appointed  to  confer 
with  the  principal  European  countries  in  the  hope  that 
some  plan  might  be  devised  whereby  a  fixed  rate  of  ex 
change  could  be  assured  between  the  gold-standard  coun 
tries  and  the  silver-standard  countries.  This  commission 
has  filed  its  preliminary  report,  which  has  been  made 
public.  I  deem  it  important  that  the  commission  be  con 
tinued,  and  that  a  sum  of  money  be  appropriated  suffi 
cient  to  pay  the  expenses  of  its  further  labors. 

A  majority  of  our  people  desire  that  steps  be  taken  in 
25 


386  MESSAGES 

the  interests  of  American  shipping,  so  that  we  may  once 
more  resume  our  former  position  in  the  ocean  carrying 
trade.  But  hitherto  the  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the 
proper  method  of  reaching  this  end  have  been  so  wide 
that  it  has  proved  impossible  to  secure  the  adoption  of 
any  particular  scheme.  Having  in  view  these  facts,  I 
recommend  that  the  Congress  direct  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  the  Postmaster-General,  and  the  Secretary  of  Com 
merce  and  Labor,  associated  with  such  a  representation 
from  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  as  the 
Congress  in  its  wisdom  may  designate,  to  serve  as  a  com 
mission  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  and  reporting  to 
the  Congress  at  its  next  session  what  legislation  is  desir 
able  or  necessary  for  the  development  of  the  American 
merchant  marine  and  American  commerce,  and  inciden 
tally  of  a  national  ocean  mail  service  of  adequate  auxiliary 
naval  cruisers  and  naval  reserves.  While  such  a  measure 
is  desirable  in  any  event,  it  is  especially  desirable  at  this 
time,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  our  present  governmental 
contract  for  ocean  mail  with  the  American  Line  will  ex 
pire  in  1905.  Our  ocean  mail  act  was  passed  in  1891.  In 
1895  our  2O-knot  transatlantic  mail  line  was  equal  to  any 
foreign  line.  Since  then  the  Germans  have  put  on  23- 
knot  steamers,  and  the  British  have  contracted  for  24-knot 
steamers.  Our  service  should  equal  the  best.  If  it  does 
not,  the  commercial  public  will  abandon  it.  If  we  are  to 
stay  in  the  business  it  ought  to  be  with  a  full  understand 
ing  of  the  advantages  to  the  country  on  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  with  exact  knowledge  of  the  cost  and  proper 
methods  of  carrying  it  on.  Moreover,  lines  of  cargo  ships 
are  of  even  more  importance  than  fast  mail  lines ;  save  so 
far  as  the  latter  can  be  depended  upon  to  furnish  swift 
auxiliary  cruisers  in  time  of  war.  The  establishment  of 
new  lines  of  cargo  ships  to  South  America,  to  Asia,  and 
elsewhere  would  be  much  in  the  interest  of  our  com 
mercial  expansion. 


S8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  387 

We  can  not  have  too  much  immigration  of  the  right 
kind,  and  we  should  have  none  at  all  of  the  wrong  kind. 
The  need  is  to  devise  some  system  by  which  undesirable 
immigrants  shall  be  kept  out  entirely,  while  desirable  im 
migrants  are  properly  distributed  throughout  the  country. 
At  present  some  districts  which  need  immigrants  have 
none ;  and  in  others,  where  the  population  is  already  con 
gested,  immigrants  come  in  such  numbers  as  to  depress 
the  conditions  of  life  for  those  already  there.  During 
the  last  two  years  the  immigration  service  at  New  York 
has  been  greatly  improved,  and  the  corruption  and  in 
efficiency  which  formerly  obtained  there  have  been  eradi 
cated.  This  service  has  just  been  investigated  by  a 
committee  of  New  York  citizens  of  high  standing,  Messrs. 
Arthur  v.  Briesen,  Lee  K.  Frankel,  Eugene  A.  Philbin, 
Thomas  W.  Hynes,and  Ralph  Trautmann.  Their  report 
deals  with  the  whole  situation  at  length,  and  concludes 
with  certain  recommendations  for  administrative  and  legis 
lative  action.  It  is  now  receiving  the  attention  of  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

The  special  investigation  of  the  subject  of  naturaliza 
tion  under  the  direction  of  the  Attorney-General,  and 
the  consequent  prosecutions,  reveal  a  condition  of  affairs 
calling  for  the  immediate  attention  of  the  Congress. 
Forgeries  and  perjuries  of  shameless  and  flagrant  character 
have  been  perpetrated,  not  only  in  the  dense  centres  of 
population,  but  throughout  the  country;  and  it  is  estab 
lished  beyond  doubt  that  very  many  so-called  citizens  of 
the  United  States  have  no  title  whatever  to  that  right, 
and  are  asserting  and  enjoying  the  benefits  of  the  same 
through  the  grossest  frauds.  It  is  never  to  be  forgotten 
that  citizenship  is,  to  quote  the  words  recently  used  by 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  an  "inestimable 
heritage,"  whether  it  proceeds  from  birth  within  the 
country  or  is  obtained  by  naturalization ;  and  we  poison 
the  sources  of  our  national  character  and  strength  at  the 


388  MESSAGES 

fountain,  if  the  privilege  is  claimed  and  exercised  without 
right,  and  by  means  of  fraud  and  corruption.  The  body 
politic  can  not  be  sound  and  healthy  if  many  of  its  con 
stituent  members  claim  their  standing  through  the  pros 
titution  of  the  high  right  and  calling  of  citizenship.  It 
should  mean  something  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States;  and  in  the  process  no  loophole  whatever  should 
be  left  open  to  fraud. 

The  methods  by  which  these  frauds — now  under  full 
investigation  with  a  view  to  meting  out  punishment  and 
providing  adequate  remedies — are  perpetrated,  include 
many  variations  of  procedure  by  which  false  certificates 
of  citizenship  are  forged  in  their  entirety ;  or  genuine  cer 
tificates  fraudulently  or  collusively  obtained  in  blank 
are  filled  in  by  the  criminal  conspirators ;  or  certificates 
are  obtained  on  fraudulent  statements  as  to  the  time 
of  arrival  and  residence  in  this  country;  or  imposi 
tion  and  substitution  of  another  party  for  the  real  peti 
tioner  occur  in  court ;  or  certificates  are  made  the  subject 
of  barter  and  sale  and  transferred  from  the  rightful  holder 
to  those  not  entitled  to  them  ;  or  certificates  are  forged  by 
erasure  of  the  original  names  and  the  insertion  of  the 
names  of  other  persons  not  entitled  to  the  same. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  refer  here  at  large  to  the 
causes  leading  to  this  state  of  affairs.  The  desire  for 
naturalization  is  heartily  to  be  commended  where  it 
springs  from  a  sincere  and  permanent  intention  to  become 
citizens,  and  a  real  appreciation  of  the  privilege.  But  it 
is  a  source  of  untold  evil  and  trouble  where  it  is  traceable 
to  selfish  and  dishonest  motives,  such  as  the  effort  by 
artificial  and  improper  means,  in  wholesale  fashion  to 
create  voters  who  are  ready-made  tools  of  corrupt  poli 
ticians,  or  the  desire  to  evade  certain  labor  laws  creating 
discriminations  against  alien  labor.  All  good  citizens, 
whether  naturalized  or  native-born,  are  equally  interested 
in  protecting  our  citizenship  against  fraud  in  any  form, 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  389 

and,  on  the  other  hand,  in  affording  every  facility  for 
naturalization  to  those  who  in  good  faith  desire  to  share 
alike  our  privileges  and  our  responsibilities. 

The  Federal  grand  jury  lately  in  session  in  New  York 
City  dealt  with  this  subject  and  made  a  presentment 
which  states  the  situation  briefly  and  forcibly  and  con 
tains  important  suggestions  for  the  consideration  of  the 
Congress.  This  presentment  is  included  as  an  appendix 
to  the  report  of  the  Attorney-General. 

In  my  last  annual  Message,  in  connection  with  the 
subject  of  the  due  regulation  of  combinations  of  capital 
which  are  or  may  become  injurious  to  the  public,  I  recom 
mended  a  special  appropriation  for  the  better  enforcement 
of  the  anti-trust  law  as  it  now  stands,  to  be  expended 
under  the  direction  of  the  Attorney-General.  Accord 
ingly  (by  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  appropri 
ation  act  of  February  25,  1903,  32  Stat.,  854,  904),  the 
Congress  appropriated,  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing 
the  various  Federal  trust  and  interstate-commerce  laws, 
the  sum  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  to  be  expended 
under  the  direction  of  the  Attorney-General  in  the  em 
ployment  of  special  counsel  and  agents  in  the  Department 
of  Justice  to  conduct  proceedings  and  prosecutions  under 
said  laws  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States.  I  now 
recommend,  as  a  matter  of  the  utmost  importance  and 
urgency,  the  extension  of  the  purposes  of  this  appropria 
tion,  so  that  it  may  be  available,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Attorney-General,  and  until  used,  for  the  due  enforce 
ment  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  in  general  and 
especially  of  the  civil  and  criminal  laws  relating  to  public 
lands  and  the  laws  relating  to  postal  crimes  and  offences 
and  the  subject  of  naturalization.  Recent  investigations 
have  shown  a  deplorable  state  of  affairs  in  these  three 
matters  of  vital  concern.  By  various  frauds  and  by 
forgeries  and  perjuries,  thousands  of  acres  of  the  public 
domain,  embracing  lands  of  different  character  and  ex- 


390 


MESSAGES 


tending  through  various  sections  of  the  country,  have 
been  dishonestly  acquired.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  urge 
the  importance  of  recovering  these  dishonest  acquisitions, 
stolen  from  the  people,  and  of  promptly  and  duly  punish 
ing  the  offenders.  I  speak  in  another  part  of  this  Message 
of  the  widespread  crimes  by  which  the  sacred  right  of 
citizenship  is  falsely  asserted  and  that  "inestimable  herit 
age  "  perverted  to  base  ends.  By  similar  means — that  is, 
through  frauds,  forgeries,  and  perjuries,  and  by  shameless 
briberies — the  laws  relating  to  the  proper  conduct  of  the 
public  service  in  general  and  to  the  due  administration  of 
the  Post-Office  Department  have  been  notoriously  vio 
lated,  and  many  indictments  have  been  found,  and  the 
consequent  prosecutions  are  in  course  of  hearing  or  on  the 
eve  thereof.  For  the  reasons  thus  indicated,  and  so  that 
the  Government  may  be  prepared  to  enforce  promptly 
and  with  the  greatest  effect  the  due  penalties  for  such 
violations  of  law,  and  to  this  end  may  be  furnished  with 
sufficient  instrumentalities  and  competent  legal  assistance 
for  the  investigations  and  trials  which  will  be  necessary 
at  many  different  points  of  the  country,  I  urge  upon  the 
Congress  the  necessity  of  making  the  said  appropriation 
available  for  immediate  use  for  all  such  purposes,  to  be 
expended  under  the  direction  of  the  Attorney-General. 

Steps  have  been  taken  by  the  State  Department  look 
ing  to  the  making  of  bribery  an  extraditable  offence  with 
foreign  powers.  The  need  of  more  effective  treaties 
covering  this  crime  is  manifest.  The  exposures  and 
prosecutions  of  official  corruption  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and 
other  cities  and  States  have  resulted  in  a  number  of  givers 
and  takers  of  bribes  becoming  fugitives  in  foreign  lands. 
Bribery  has  not  been  included  in  extradition  treaties 
heretofore,  as  the  necessity  for  it  has  not  arisen.  While 
there  may  have  been  as  much  official  corruption  in  former 
years,  there  has  been  more  developed  and  brought  to 
light  in  the  immediate  past  than  in  the  preceding  cen- 


58TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  391 

tury  of  our  country's  history.  It  should  be  the  policy 
of  the  United  States  to  leave  no  place  on  earth  where 
a  corrupt  man  fleeing  from  this  country  can  rest  in  peace. 
There  is  no  reason  why  bribery  should  not  be  included 
in  all  treaties  as  extraditable.  The  recent  amended  treaty 
with  Mexico,  whereby  this  crime  was  put  in  the  list  of 
extraditable  offences,  has  established  a  salutary  precedent 
in  this  regard.  Under  this  treaty  the  State  Department 
has  asked,  and  Mexico  has  granted,  the  extradition  of  one 
of  the  St.  Louis  bribe-givers. 

There  can  be  no  crime  more  serious  than  bribery. 
Other  offences  violate  one  law,  while  corruption  strikes 
at  the  foundation  of  all  law.  Under  our  form  of  govern 
ment  all  authority  is  vested  in  the  people  and  by  them 
delegated  to  those  who  represent  them  in  official  capacity. 
There  can  be  no  offence  heavier  than  that  of  him  in  whom 
such  a  sacred  trust  has  been  reposed,  who  sells  it  for  his 
own  gain  and  enrichment ;  and  no  less  heavy  is  the  offence 
of  the  bribe-giver.  He  is  worse  than  the  thief,  for  the 
thief  robs  the  individual,  while  the  corrupt  official  plunders 
an  entire  city  or  State.  He  is  as  wicked  as  the  murderer, 
for  the  murderer  may  only  take  one  life  against  the  law, 
while  the  corrupt  official  and  the  man  who  corrupts  the 
official  alike  aim  at  the  assassination  of  the  commonwealth 
itself.  Government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the 
people  will  perish  from  the  face  of  the  earth  if  bribery  is 
tolerated.  The  givers  and  takers  of  bribes  stand  on  an 
evil  pre-eminence  of  infamy.  The  exposure  and  punish 
ment  of  public  corruption  is  an  honor  to  a  nation,  not  a 
disgrace.  The  shame  lies  in  toleration,  not  in  correction. 
No  city  or  State,  still  less  the  Nation,  can  be  injured  by 
the  enforcement  of  law.  As  long  as  public  plunderers 
when  detected  can  find  a  haven  of  refuge  in  any  foreign 
land  and  avoid  punishment,  just  so  long  encouragement  is 
given  them  to  continue  their  practices.  If  we  fail  to  do 
all  that  in  us  lies  to  stamp  out  corruption  we  cannot 


392  MESSAGES 

escape  our  share  of  responsibility  for  the  guilt.  The 
first  requisite  of  successful  self-government  is  un 
flinching  enforcement  of  the  law  and  the  cutting  out  of 
corruption. 

For  several  years  past  the  rapid  development  of  Alaska 
and  the  establishment  of  growing  American  interests  in 
regions  theretofore  unsurveyed  and  imperfectly  known 
brought  into  prominence  the  urgent  necessity  of  a  practi 
cal  demarcation  of  the  boundaries  between  the  jurisdic 
tions  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  Although 
the  treaty  of  1825  between  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  the 
provisions  of  which  were  copied  in  the  treaty  of  1867, 
whereby  Russia  conveyed  Alaska  to  the  United  States, 
was  positive  as  to  the  control,  first  by  Russia  and  later 
by  the  United  States,  of  a  strip  of  territory  along  the 
continental  mainland  from  the  western  shore  of  Portland 
Canal  to  Mount  St.  Elias,  following  and  surrounding  the 
indentations  of  the  coast  and  including  the  islands  to 
the  westward,  its  description  of  the  landward  margin  of  the 
strip  was  indefinite,  resting  on  the  supposed  existence  of  a 
continuous  ridge  or  range  of  mountains  skirting  the  coast, 
as  figured  in  the  charts  of  the  early  navigators.  It  had 
at  no  time  been  possible  for  either  party  in  interest  to  lay 
down,  under  the  authority  of  the  treaty,  a  line  so  obvi 
ously  exact  according  to  its  provisions  as  to  command  the 
assent  of  the  other.  For  nearly  three-fourths  of  a  cen 
tury  the  absence  of  tangible  local  interests  demanding 
the  exercise  of  positive  jurisdiction  on  either  side  of  the 
border  left  the  question  dormant.  In  1878  questions  of 
revenue  administration  on  the  Stikine  River  led  to  the 
establishment  of  a  provisional  demarcation,  crossing  the 
channel  between  two  high  peaks  on  either  side  about 
twenty-four  miles  above  the  river  mouth.  In  1899  similar 
questions  growing  out  of  the  extraordinary  development 
of  mining  interests  in  the  region  about  the  head  of  Lynn 
Canal  brought  about  a  temporary  modus  vivendi,  by  which 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  393 

a  convenient  separation  was  made  at  the  watershed  divides 
of  the  White  and  Chilkoot  Passes  and  to  the  north  of 
Klukwan,  on  the  Klehini  River.  These  partial  and  ten 
tative  adjustments  could  not,  in  the  very  nature  of  things, 
be  satisfactory  or  lasting.  A  permanent  disposition  of 
the  matter  became  imperative. 

After  unavailing  attempts  to  reach  an  understanding 
through  a  Joint  High  Commission,  followed  by  pro 
longed  negotiations,  conducted  in  an  amicable  spirit,  a 
convention  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
was  signed,  January  24,  1903,  providing  for  an  examina 
tion  of  the  subject  by  a  mixed  tribunal  of  six  members, 
three  on  a  side,  with  a  view  to  its  final  disposition.  Rati 
fications  were  exchanged  on  March  3d  last  whereupon 
the  two  Governments  appointed  their  respective  members. 
Those  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  were  Elihu  Root, 
Secretary  of  War,  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States,  and  George  Turner,  an  ex-Senator  of  the 
United  States,  while  Great  Britain  named  the  Right 
Honorable  Lord  Alverstone,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Eng 
land,  Sir  Louis  Amable  Jette,  K.C.M.G.,  retired  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Quebec,  and  A.  B.  Aylesworth, 
K.C.,  of  Toronto.  This  tribunal  met  in  London  on 
September  3d,  under  the  presidency  of  Lord  Alverstone. 
The  proceedings  were  expeditious,  and  marked  by  a 
friendly  and  conscientious  spirit.  The  respective  cases, 
counter  cases,  and  arguments  presented  the  issues  clearly 
and  fully.  On  the  2Oth  of  October  a  majority  of  the 
tribunal  reached  and  signed  an  agreement  on  all  the 
questions  submitted  by  the  terms  of  the  convention.  By 
this  award  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  the  control 
of  a  continuous  strip  or  border  of  the  mainland  shore, 
skirting  all  the  tide-water  inlets  and  sinuosities  of  the 
coast,  is  confirmed ;  the  entrance  to  Portland  Canal  (con 
cerning  which  legitimate  doubt  appeared)  is  defined  as 
passing  by  Tongass  Inlet  and  to  the  northwestward  of 


394 


MESSAGES 


Wales  and  Pearse  Islands ;  a  line  is  drawn  from  the  head 
of  Portland  Canal  to  the  fifty-sixth  degree  of  north  lati 
tude  ;  and  the  interior  border-line  of  the  strip  is  fixed  by 
lines  connecting  certain  mountain  summits  lying  between 
Portland  Canal  and  Mount  St.  Elias,  and  running  along 
the  crest  of  the  divide  separating  the  coast  slope  from  the 
inland  watershed  at  the  only  part  of  the  frontier  where 
the  drainage  ridge  approaches  the  coast  within  the  dis 
tance  of  ten  marine  leagues  stipulated  by  the  treaty  as 
the  extreme  width  of  the  strip  around  the  heads  of  Lynn 
Canal  and  its  branches. 

While  the  line  so  traced  follows  the  provisional  demar 
cation  of  1878  at  the  crossing  of  the  Stikine  River,  and 
that  of  1899  at  the  summits  of  the  White  and  Chilkoot 
Passes,  it  runs  much  farther  inland  from  the  Klehini  than 
the  temporary  line  of  the  later  modus  vivendi,  and  leaves 
the  entire  mining  district  of  the  Porcupine  River  and 
Glacier  Creek  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 

The  result  is  satisfactory  in  every  way.  It  is  of  great 
material  advantage  to  our  people  in  the  far  Northwest. 
It  has  removed  from  the  field  of  discussion  and  possible 
danger  a  question  liable  to  become  more  acutely  accentu 
ated  with  each  passing  year.  Finally,  it  has  furnished  a 
signal  proof  of  the  fairness  and  good-will  with  which  two 
friendly  nations  can  approach  and  determine  issues  in 
volving  national  sovereignty  and  by  their  nature  incapable 
of  submission  to  a  third  power  for  adjudication. 

The  award  is  self-executing  on  the  vital  points.  To 
make  it  effective  as  regards  the  others  it  only  remains 
for  the  two  Governments  to  appoint,  each  on  its  own 
behalf,  one  or  more  scientific  experts,  who  shall,  with 
all  convenient  speed,  proceed  together  to  lay  down 
the  boundary  line  in  accordance  with  the  decision  of 
the  majority  of  the  tribunal.  I  recommend  that  the 
Congress  make  adequate  provision  for  the  appointment, 
compensation,  and  expenses  of  the  members  to  serve 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  395 

on  this  joint  boundary  commission  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  during  the  second  session 
of  the  last  Congress  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  Italy 
formed  an  alliance  for  the  purpose  of  blockading  the  ports 
of  Venezuela  and  using  such  other  means  of  pressure  as 
would  secure  a  settlement  of  claims  due,  as  they  alleged, 
to  certain  of  their  subjects.  Their  employment  of  force 
for  the  collection  of  those  claims  was  terminated  by  an 
agreement  brought  about  through  the  offices  of  the  diplo 
matic  representatives  of  the  United  States  at  Caracas  and 
the  Government  at  Washington,  thereby  ending  a  situa 
tion  which  was  bound  to  cause  increasing  friction,  and 
which  jeoparded  the  peace  of  the  continent.  Under  this 
agreement  Venezuela  agreed  to  set  apart  a  certain  per 
centage  of  the  customs  receipts  of  two  of  her  ports  to  be 
applied  to  the  payment  of  whatever  obligations  might  be 
ascertained  by  mixed  commissions  appointed  for  that 
purpose  to  be  due  from  her,  not  only  to  the  three  powers 
already  mentioned,  whose  proceedings  against  her  had 
resulted  in  a  state  of  war,  but  also  to  the  United  States, 
France,  Spain,  Belgium,  the  Netherlands,  Sweden  and 
Norway,  and  Mexico,  who  had  not  employed  force  for 
the  collection  of  the  claims  alleged  to  be  due  to  certain 
of  their  citizens. 

A  demand  was  then  made  by  the  so-called  blockading 
powers  that  the  sums  ascertained  to  be  due  to  their  citi 
zens  by  such  mixed  commissions  should  be  accorded  pay 
ment  in  full  before  anything  was  paid  upon  the  claims  of 
any  of  the  so-called  peace  powers.  Venezuela,  on  the 
other  hand,  insisted  that  all  her  creditors  should  be  paid 
upon  a  basis  of  exact  equality.  During  the  efforts  to 
adjust  this  dispute  it  was  suggested  by  the  powers  in 
interest  that  it  should  be  referred  to  me  for  decision,  but 
I  was  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  a  far  wiser  course  would 
be  to  submit  the  question  to  the  Permanent  Court  of 


396  MESSAGES 

Arbitration  at  The  Hague.  It  seemed  to  me  to  offer 
an  admirable  opportunity  to  advance  the  practice  of 
the  peaceful  settlement  of  disputes  between  nations 
and  to  secure  for  The  Hague  Tribunal  a  memorable 
increase  of  its  practical  importance.  The  nations  inter 
ested  in  the  controversy  were  so  numerous  and  in 
many  instances  so  powerful  as  to  make  it  evident  that 
beneficent  results  would  follow  from  their  appearance 
at  the  same  time  before  the  bar  of  that  august  tribunal 
of  peace. 

Our  hopes  in  that  regard  have  been  realized.  Russia 
and  Austria  are  represented  in  the  persons  of  the  learned 
and  distinguished  jurists  who  compose  the  Tribunal, 
while  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Bel 
gium,  the  Netherlands,  Sweden  and  Norway,  Mexico, 
the  United  States,  and  Venezuela  are  represented  by 
their  respective  agents  and  counsel.  Such  an  imposing 
concourse  of  nations  presenting  their  arguments  to  and 
invoking  the  decision  of  that  high  court  of  international 
justice  and  international  peace  can  hardly  fail  to  secure  a 
like  submission  of  many  future  controversies.  The  na 
tions  now  appearing  there  will  find  it  far  easier  to  appear 
there  a  second  time,  while  no  nation  can  imagine  its  just 
pride  will  be  lessened  by  following  the  example  now  pre 
sented.  This  triumph  of  the  principle  of  international 
arbitration  is  a  subject  of  warm  congratulation  and  offers 
a  happy  augury  for  the  peace  of  the  world. 

\There  seems  good  ground  for  the  belief  that  there  has 
been  a  real  growth  among  the  civilized  nations  of  a  senti 
ment  which  will  permit  a  gradual  substitution  of  other 
methods  than  the  method  of  war  in  the  settlement  of  dis 
putes.  /It  is  not  pretended  that  as  yet  we  are  near  a  po 
sition  in  which  it  will  be  possible  wholly  to  prevent  war, 
or  that  a  just  regard  for  national  interest  and  honor  will 
in  all  cases  permit  of  the  settlement  of  international  dis 
putes  by  arbitration ;  but  by  a  mixture  of  prudence  and 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  397 

firmness  with  wisdom  we  think  it  is  possible  to  do  away 
with  much  of  the  provocation  and  excuse  for  war,  and  at 
least  in  many  cases  to  substitute  some  other  and  more 
rational  method  for  the  settlement  of  disputes.  The 
Hague  Court  offers  so  good  an  example  of  what  can  be 
done  in  the  direction  of  such  settlement  that  it  should  be 
encouraged  in  every  way. 

Further  steps  should  be  taken.  In  President  McKin- 
ley's  annual  Message  of  December  5,  1898,  he  made  the 
following  recommendation : 

The  experiences  of  the  last  year  bring  forcibly  home  to  us  a 
sense  of  the  burdens  and  the  waste  of  war.  We  desire,  in 
common  with  most  civilized  nations,  to  reduce  to  the  lowest 
possible  point  the  damage  sustained  in  time  of  war  by  peace 
able  trade  and  commerce.  It  is  true  we  may  suffer  in  such 
cases  less  than  other  communities,  but  all  nations  are  damaged 
more  or  less  by  the  state  of  uneasiness  and  apprehension  into 
which  an  outbreak  of  hostilities  throws  the  entire  commercial 
world.  It  should  be  our  object,  therefore,  to  minimize,  so 
far  as  practicable,  this  inevitable  loss  and  disturbance.  This 
purpose  can  probably  best  be  accomplished  by  an  international 
agreement  to  regard  all  private  property  at  sea  as  exempt  from 
capture  or  destruction  by  the  forces  of  belligerent  powers. 
The  United  States  Government  has  for  many  years  advocated 
this  humane  and  beneficent  principle,  and  is  now  in  a  position 
to  recommend  it  to  other  powers  without  the  imputation  of 
selfish  motives.  I  therefore  suggest  for  your  consideration 
that  the  Executive  be  authorized  to  correspond  with  the  gov 
ernments  of  the  principal  maritime  powers  with  a  view  of 
incorporating  into  the  permanent  law  of  civilized  nations  the 
principle  of  the  exemption  of  all  private  property  at  sea,  not 
contraband  of  war,  from  capture  or  destruction  by  belligerent 
powers. 

I  cordially  renew  this  recommendation. 
The  Supreme  Court,  speaking  on  December  1 1,  1899, 
through  Peckham,  J.,  said: 


398  MESSAGES 

It  is,  we  think,  historically  accurate  to  say  that  this  Govern 
ment  has  always  been,  in  its  views,  among  the  most  advanced 
of  the  governments  of  the  world  in  favor  of  mitigating,  as  to 
all  non  combatants,  the  hardships  and  horrors  of  war.  To 
accomplish  that  object  it  has  always  advocated  those  rules 
which  would  in  most  cases  do  away  with  the  right  to  capture 
the  private  property  of  an  enemy  on  the  high  seas. 

I  advocate  this  as  a  matter  of  humanity  and  morals. 
It  is  anachronistic  when  private  property  is  respected  on 
land  that  it  should  not  be  respected  at  sea.  Moreover, 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  shipping  represents,  inter 
nationally  speaking,  a  much  more  generalized  species  of 
private  property  than  is  the  case  with  ordinary  property 
on  land — that  is,  property  found  at  sea  is  much  less  apt 
than  is  the  case  with  property  found  on  land  really  to 
belong  to  any  one  nation.  Under  the  modern  system  of 
corporate  ownership  the  flag  of  a  vessel  often  differs  from 
the  flag  which  would  mark  the  nationality  of  the  real 
ownership  and  money  control  of  the  vessel ;  and  the  cargo 
may  belong  to  individuals  of  yet  a  different  nationality. 
Much  American  capital  is  now  invested  in  foreign  ships ; 
and  among  foreign  nations  it  often  happens  that  the 
capital  of  one  is  largely  invested  in  the  shipping  of  an 
other.  Furthermore,  as  a  practical  matter,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  while  commerce  destroying  may  cause 
serious  loss  and  great  annoyance,  it  can  never  be  more 
than  a  subsidiary  factor  in  bringing  to  terms  a  resolute 
foe.  This  is  now  well  recognized  by  all  of  our  naval  ex 
perts.  The  fighting  ship,  not  the  commerce  destroyer,  is 
the  vessel  whose  feats  add  renown  to  a  nation's  history, 
and  establish  her  place  among  the  great  powers  of  the 
world. 

Last  year  the  Interparliamentary  Union  for  Interna 
tional  Arbitration  met  at  Vienna,  six  hundred  members 
of  the  different  legislatures  of  civilized  countries  attend- 


S8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  399 

ing.  It  was  provided  that  the  next  meeting  should  be  in 
1904  at  St.  Louis,  subject  to  our  Congress  extending  an 
invitation.  Like  The  Hague  Tribunal,  this  Interparlia 
mentary  Union  is  one  of  the  forces  tending  towards  peace 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  it  is  entitled  to  our 
support.  I  trust  the  invitation  can  be  extended. 

Early  in  July,  having  received  intelligence,  which  hap 
pily  turned  out  to  be  erroneous,  of  the  assassination  of 
our  vice-consul  at  Beirut,  I  dispatched  a  small  squadron 
to  that  port  for  such  service  as  might  be  found  necessary 
on  arrival.  Although  the  attempt  on  the  life  of  our  vice- 
consul  had  not  been  successful,  yet  the  outrage  was 
symptomatic  of  a  state  of  excitement  and  disorder  which 
demanded  immediate  attention.  The  arrival  of  the  ves 
sels  had  the  happiest  result.  A  feeling  of  security  at 
once  took  the  place  of  the  former  alarm  and  disquiet ; 
our  officers  were  cordially  welcomed  by  the  consular  body 
and  the  leading  merchants,  and  ordinary  business  resumed 
its  activity.  The  Government  of  the  Sultan  gave  a  con 
siderate  hearing  to  the  representatives  of  our  minister; 
the  official  who  was  regarded  as  responsible  for  the  dis 
turbed  condition  of  affairs  was  removed.  Our  relations 
with  the  Turkish  Government  remain  friendly  ;  our  claims 
founded  on  inequitable  treatment  of  some  of  our  schools 
and  missions  appear  to  be  in  process  of  amicable  adjust- 

.  ment. 

\  The  signing  of  a  new  commercial  treaty  with  China, 
which  took  place  at  Shanghai  on  the  8th  of  October,  is  a 
cause  for  satisfaction.  This  act,  the  result  of  long  dis 
cussion  and  negotiation,  places  our  commercial  relations 
with  the  great  Oriental  Empire  on  a  more  satisfactory 
footing  than  they  have  ever  heretofore  enjoyed.  It  pro 
vides  not  only  for  the  ordinary  rights  and  privileges  of 
diplomatic  and  consular  officers,  but  also  for  an  important 
extension  of  our  commerce  by  increased  facility  of  access 
to  Chinese  ports,  and  for  the  relief  of  trade  by  the 


4oo 


MESSAGES 


removal  of  some  of  the  obstacles  which  have  embarrassed 
it  in  the  past/  The  Chinese  Government  engages,  on  fair 
and  equitable  conditions,  which  will  probably  be  accepted 
by  the  principal  commercial  nations,  to  abandon  the  levy 
of  "liken"  and  other  transit  dues  throughout  the  Empire, 
and  to  introduce  other  desirable  administrative  reforms. 
Larger  facilities  are  to  be  given  to  our  citizens  who  desire 
to  carry  on  mining  enterprises  in  China.  We  have  secured 
for  our  missionaries  a  valuable  privilege,  the  recognition 
of  their  right  to  rent  and  lease  in  perpetuity  such  property 
as  their  religious  societies  may  need  in  all  parts  of  the 
Empire.  And,  what  was  an  indispensable  condition  for 
the  advance  and  development  of  our  commerce  in  Man 
churia,  China,  by  treaty  with  us,  has  opened  to  foreign 
commerce  the  cities  of  Mukden,  the  capital  of  the  pro 
vince  of  Manchuria,  and  Antung,  an  important  port  on 
the  Yalu  River,  on  the  road  to  Korea.  The  full  measure 
of  development  which  our  commerce  may  rightfully  ex 
pect  can  hardly  be  looked  for  until  the  settlement  of  the 
present  abnormal  state  of  things  in  the  Empire ;  but  the 
foundation  for  such  development  has  at  last  been  laid. 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  reduced  cost  in  maintaining 
the  consular  service  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1903,  as  shown  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Auditor  for  the 
State  and  other  Departments,  as  compared  with  the  year 
previous.  For  the  year  under  consideration  the  excess 
of  expenditures  over  receipts  on  account  of  the  consular 
service  amounted  to  $26,125.12,  as  against  $96,972.50,  for 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1902,  and  $147,040.16  for  the 
year  ending  June  30,  1901.  This  is  the  best  showing 
in  this  respect  for  the  consular  service  for  the  past  four 
teen  years,  and  the  reduction  in  the  cost  of  the  service 
to  the  Government  has  been  made  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  expenditures  for  the  year  in  question  were  more 
than  $20,000  greater  than  for  the  previous  year. 

The  rural  free-delivery  service  has  been  steadily  ex- 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          401 

tended.  The  attention  of  the  Congress  is  asked  to  the 
question  of  the  compensation  of  the  letter-carriers  and 
clerks  engaged  in  the  postal  service,  especially  on  the 
new  rural  free-delivery  routes.  More  routes  have  been  in 
stalled  since  the  first  of  July  last  than  in  any  like  period  in 
the  Department's  history.  While  a  due  regard  to  econ 
omy  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  the  establishment  of  new 
routes,  yet  the  extension  of  the  rural  free-delivery  system 
must  be  continued,  for  reasons  of  sound  public  policy. 
No  governmental  movement  of  recent  years  has  resulted 
in  greater  immediate  benefit  to  the  people  of  the  country 
districts.  Rural  free  delivery,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  telephone,  the  bicycle,  and  the  trolley,  accomplishes 
much  toward  lessening  the  isolation  of  farm  life  and  mak 
ing  it  brighter  and  more  attractive.  In  the  immediate 
past  the  lack  of  just  such  facilities  as  these  has  driven 
many  of  the  more  active  and  restless  young  men  and 
women  from  the  farms  to  the  cities ;  for  they  rebelled  at 
loneliness  and  lack  of  mental  companionship.  It  is  un 
healthy  and  undesirable  for  the  cities  to  grow  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  country;  and  rural  free  delivery  is  not  only 
a  good  thing  in  itself,  but  is  good  because  it  is  one  of  the 
causes  which  check  this  unwholesome  tendency  towards 
the  urban  concentration  of  our  population  at  the  expense 
of  the  country  districts.  It  is  for  the  same  reason  that 
we  sympathize  with  and  approve  of  the  policy  of  build 
ing  good  roads.  The  movement  for  good  roads  is  one 
fraught  with  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  country  districts. 
I  trust  that  the  Congress  will  continue  to  favor  in  all 
proper  ways  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition.  This 
Exposition  commemorates  the  Louisiana  purchase,  which 
was  the  first  great  step  in  the  expansion  which  made  us  a 
continental  nation.  The  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark 
across  the  continent  followed  thereon,  and  marked  the 
beginning  of  the  process  of  exploration  and  colonization 

which  thrust  our  national  boundaries  to  the  Pacific.    The 

26 


402 


MESSAGES 


acquisition  of  the  Oregon  country,  including  the  present 
States  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  was  a  fact  of  immense 
importance  in  our  history;  first  giving  us  our  place  on 
the  Pacific  seaboard,  and  making  ready  the  way  for  our 
ascendency  in  the  commerce  of  the  greatest  of  the  oceans. 
The  centennial  of  our  establishment  upon  the  western 
coast  by  the  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark  is  to  be  cele 
brated  at  Portland,  Oregon,  by  an  exposition  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1905,  and  this  event  should  receive  recognition  and 
support  from  the  National  Government. 

I  call  your  special  attention  to  the  Territory  of  Alaska. 
The  country  is  developing  rapidly,  and  it  has  an  assured 
future.  The  mineral  wealth  is  great,  and  has  as  yet  hardly 
been  tapped.  The  fisheries,  if  wisely  handled  and  kept 
under  national  control,  v/ill  be  a  business  as  permanent 
as  any  other,  and  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  people. 
The  forests  if  properly  guarded  will  form  another  great 
source  of  wealth.  Portions  of  Alaska  are  fitted  for  farm 
ing  and  stock  raising,  although  the  methods  must  be 
adapted  to  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  country. 
Alaska  is  situated  in  the  far  north;  but  so  are  Norway 
and  Sweden  and  Finland ;  and  Alaska  can  prosper  and 
play  its  part  in  the  New  World  just  as  those  nations  have 
prospered  and  played  their  parts  in  the  Old  World. 
Proper  land  laws  should  be  enacted,  and  the  survey  of 
the  public  lands  immediately  begun.  Coal-land  laws 
should  be  provided  whereby  the  coal-land  entryman  may 
make  his  location  and  secure  patent  under  methods  kin 
dred  to  those  now  prescribed  for  homestead  and  mineral 
entrymen.  Salmon  hatcheries,  exclusively  under  Gov 
ernment  control,  should  be  established.  The  cable  should 
be  extended  from  Sitka  westward.  Wagon  roads  and 
trails  should  be  built,  and  the  building  of  railroads  pro 
moted  in  all  legitimate  ways.  Light-houses  should  be 
built  along  the  coast.  Attention  should  be  paid  to  the 
needs  of  the  Alaska  Indians;  provision  should  be  made 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          403 

for  an  officer,  with  deputies,  to  study  their  needs,  relieve 
their  immediate  wants,  and  help  them  adapt  themselves 
to  the  new  conditions. 

The  commission  appointed  to  investigate,  during  the 
season  of  1903,  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  Alaskan 
salmon  fisheries,  has  finished  its  work  in  the  field,  and  is 
preparing  a  detailed  report  thereon.  A  preliminary  re 
port  reciting  the  measures  immediately  required  for  the 
protection  and  preservation  of  the  salmon  industry  has 
already  been  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  for  his  attention  and  for  the  needed  action. 

I  recommend  that  an  appropriation  be  made  for  build 
ing  light-houses  in  Hawaii,  and  taking  possession  of  those 
already  built.  The  Territory  should  be  reimbursed  for 
whatever  amounts  it  has  already  expended  for  light 
houses.  The  governor  should  be  empowered  to  suspend 
or  remove  any  official  appointed  by  him,  without  sub 
mitting  the  matter  to  the  legislature. 

Of  our  insular  possessions,  the  Philippines  and  Porto 
Rico,  it  is  gratifying  to  say  that  their  steady  progress  has 
been  such  as  to  make  it  unnecessary  to  spend  much  time 
in  discussing  them.  Yet  the  Congress  should  ever  keep 
in  mind  that  a  peculiar  obligation  rests  upon  us  to  further 
in  every  way  the  welfare  of  these  communities.  The 
Philippines  should  be  knit  closer  to  us  by  tariff  arrange 
ments.  It  would,  of  course,  be  impossible  suddenly  to 
raise  the  people  of  the  islands  to  the  high  pitch  of  indus 
trial  prosperity  and  of  governmental  efficiency  to  which 
they  will  in  the  end  by  degrees  attain ;  and  the  caution 
and  moderation  shown  in  developing  them  have  been 
among  the  main  reasons  why  this  development  has 
hitherto  gone  on  so  smoothly.  Scrupulous  care  has  been 
taken  in  the  choice  of  governmental  agents  and  the  en 
tire  elimination  of  partisan  politics  from  the  public  ser 
vice.  The  condition  of  the  islanders  is  in  material  things 
far  better  than  ever  before,  while  their  governmental, 


404 


MESSAGES 


intellectual,  and  moral  advance  has  kept  pace  with  their 
material  advance.  No  one  people  ever  benefited  another 
people  more  than  we  have  benefited  the  Filipinos  by 
taking  possession  of  the  islands. 

The  cash  receipts  of  the  General  Land  Office  for  the 
last  fiscal  year  were  $i  1,024,743.65,  an  increase  of  $4,762,- 
816.47  over  the  preceding  year.  Of  this  sum,  approxi 
mately,  $8,461,493  will  go  to  the  credit  of  the  fund  for 
the  reclamation  of  arid  land,  making  the  total  of  this 
fund,  up  to  the  3Oth  of  June,  1903,  approximately, 
$16,191,836. 

A  gratifying  disposition  has  been  evinced  by  those 
having  unlawful  inclosures  of  public  land  to  remove  their 
fences.  Nearly  two  million  acres  so  inclosed  have  been 
thrown  open  on  demand.  In  but  comparatively  few 
cases  has  it  been  necessary  to  go  into  court  to  accomplish 
this  purpose.  This  work  will  be  vigorously  prosecuted 
until  all  unlawful  inclosures  have  been  removed. 

Experience  has  shown  that  in  the  Western  States  them 
selves,  as  well  as  in  the  rest  of  the  country,  there  is  wide 
spread  conviction  that  certain  of  the  public-land  laws  and 
the  resulting  administrative  practice  no  longer  meet  the 
present  needs.  The  character  and  uses  of  the  remaining 
public  lands  differ  widely  from  those  of  the  public  lands 
which  Congress  had  especially  in  view  when  these  laws 
were  passed.  The  rapidly  increasing  rate  of  disposal  of 
the  public  lands  is  not  followed  by  a  corresponding  in 
crease  in  home  building.  There  is  a  tendency  to  mass  in 
large  holdings  public  lands,  especially  timber  and  grazing 
lands,  and  thereby  to  retard  settlement.  I  renew  and 
emphasize  my  recommendation  of  last  year  that  so  far  as 
they  are  available  for  agriculture  in  its  broadest  sense, 
and  to  whatever  extent  they  may  be  reclaimed  under  the 
national  irrigation  law,  the  remaining  public  lands  should 
be  held  rigidly  for  the  home  builder.  The  attention  of 
the  Congress  is  especially  directed  to  the  timber  and 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          405 

stone  law,  the  desert-land  law,  and  the  commutation 
clause  of  the  homestead  law,  which  in  their  operation 
have  in  many  respects  conflicted  with  wise  public-land 
policy.  The  discussions  in  the  Congress  and  elsewhere 
have  made  it  evident  that  there  is  a  wide  divergence  of 
opinions  between  those  holding  opposite  views  on  these 
subjects;  and  that  the  opposing  sides  have  strong  and 
convinced  representatives  of  weight  both  within  and 
without  the  Congress;  the  differences  being  not  only  as 
to  matters  of  opinion  but  as  to  matters  of  fact.  In  order 
that  definite  information  may  be  available  for  the  use  of 
the  Congress,  I  have  appointed  a  commission  composed 
of  W.  A.  Richards,  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land 
Office;  Gifford  Pinchot,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Forestry 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  F.  H.  Newell, 
Chief  Hydrographer  of  the  Geological  Survey,  to  report 
at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  upon  the  condition, 
operation,  and  effect  of  the  present  land  laws  and  on 
the  use,  condition,  disposal,  and  settlement  of  the  public 
lands.  The  commission  will  report  especially  what  changes 
in  organization,  laws,  regulations,  and  practice  affecting 
the  public  lands  are  needed  to  effect  the  largest  practicable 
disposition  of  the  public  lands  to  actual  settlers  who  will 
build  permanent  homes  upon  them,  and  to  secure  in  per 
manence  the  fullest  and  most  effective  use  of  the  resources 
of  the  public  lands;  and  it  will  make  such  other  reports 
and  recommendations  as  its  study  of  these  questions  may 
suggest.  The  commission  is  to  report  immediately  upon 
those  points  concerning  which  its  judgment  is  clear;  on 
any  point  upon  which  it  has  doubt  it  will  take  the  time 
necessary  to  make  investigation  and  reach  a  final  judg 
ment. 

The  work  of  reclamation  of  the  arid  lands  of  the  West 
is  progressing  steadily  and  satisfactorily  under  the  terms 
of  the  law  setting  aside  the  proceeds  from  the  disposal 
of  public  lands.  The  corps  of  engineers  known  as  the 


4o6  MESSAGES 

Reclamation  Service,  which  is  conducting  the  surveys  and 
examinations,  has  been  thoroughly  organized,  especial 
pains  being  taken  to  secure  under  the  civil-service  rules  a 
body  of  skilled,  experienced,  and  efficient  men.  Surveys 
and  examinations  are  progressing  throughout  the  arid 
States  and  Territories,  plans  for  reclaiming  works  being 
prepared  and  passed  upon  by  boards  of  engineers  before 
approval  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  In  Arizona 
and  Nevada,  in  localities  where  such  work  is  pre-eminently 
needed,  construction  has  already  been  begun.  In  other 
parts  of  the  arid  West  various  projects  are  well  advanced 
towards  the  drawing  up  of  contracts,  these  being  delayed 
in  part  by  necessities  of  reaching  agreements  or  under 
standing  as  regards  rights  of  way  or  acquisition  of  real 
estate.  Most  of  the  works  contemplated  for  construction 
are  of  national  importance,  involving  interstate  questions 
or  the  securing  of  stable,  self-supporting  communities  in 
the  midst  of  vast  tracts  of  vacant  land.  The  Nation  as  a 
whole  is  of  course  the  gainer  by  the  creation  of  these 
homes,  adding  as  they  do  to  the  wealth  and  stability  of 
the  country,  and  furnishing  a  home  market  for  the  pro 
ducts  of  the  East  and  South.  The  reclamation  law,  while 
perhaps  not  ideal,  appears  at  present  to  answer  the  larger 
needs  for  which  it  is  designed.  Further  legislation  is  not 
recommended  until  the  necessities  of  change  are  more 
apparent. 

The  study  of  the  opportunities  of  reclamation  of  the 
vast  extent  of  arid  land  shows  that  whether  this  reclama 
tion  is  done  by  individuals,  corporations,  or  the  State, 
the  sources  of  water  supply  must  be  effectively  protected 
and  the  reservoirs  guarded  by  the  preservation  of  the 
forests  at  the  headwaters  of  the  streams.  The  engineers 
making  the  preliminary  examinations  continually  empha 
size  this  need  and  urge  that  the  remaining  public  lands  at 
the  headwaters  of  the  important  streams  of  the  West  be 
reserved  to  insure  permanency  of  water  supply  for  irriga- 


58TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          407 

tion.  Much  progress  in  forestry  has  been  made  during 
the  past  year.  The  necessity  for  perpetuating  our  forest 
resources,  whether  in  public  or  private  hands,  is  recog 
nized  now  as  never  before.  The  demand  for  forest  re 
serves  has  become  insistent  in  the  West,  because  the  West 
must  use  the  water,  wood,  and  summer  range  which  only 
such  reserves  can  supply.  Progressive  lumbermen  are 
striving,  through  forestry,  to  give  their  business  perma 
nence.  Other  great  business  interests  are  awakening  to 
the  need  of  forest  preservation  as  a  business  matter.  The 
Government's  forest  work  should  receive  from  the  Con 
gress  hearty  support,  and  especially  support  adequate  for 
the  protection  of  the  forest  reserves  against  fire.  The 
forest-reserve  policy  of  the  Government  has  passed  be 
yond  the  experimental  stage  and  has  reached  a  condition 
where  scientific  methods  are  essential  to  its  successful 
prosecution.  The  administrative  features  of  forest  re 
serves  are  at  present  unsatisfactory,  being  divided  be 
tween  three  Bureaus  of  two  Departments.  It  is  therefore 
recommended  that  all  matters  pertaining  to  forest  re 
serves,  except  those  involving  or  pertaining  to  land  titles, 
be  consolidated  in  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  Agriculture. 

The  cotton-growing  States  have  recently  been  invaded 
by  a  weevil  that  has  done  much  damage  and  threatens 
the  entire  cotton  industry.  I  suggest  to  the  Congress 
the  prompt  enactment  of  such  remedial  legislation  as  its 
judgment  may  approve. 

In  granting  patents  to  foreigners  the  proper  course  for 
this  country  to  follow  is  to  give  the  same  advantages  to 
foreigners  here  that  the  countries  in  which  these  foreign 
ers  dwell  extend  in  return  to  our  citizens;  that  is,  to 
extend  the  benefits  of  our  patent  laws  on  inventions  and 
the  like  where  in  return  the  articles  would  be  patentable 
m  the  foreign  countries  concerned — where  an  American 
could  get  a  corresponding  patent  in  such  countries. 


4o8  MESSAGES 

The  Indian  agents  should  not  be  dependent  for  their 
appointment  or  tenure  of  office  upon  considerations  of 
partisan  politics ;  the  practice  of  appointing,  when  possi 
ble,  ex-army  officers  or  bonded  superintendents  to  the 
vacancies  that  occur  is  working  well.  Attention  is  in- 
vited  to  the  widespread  illiteracy  due  to  lack  of  public 
schools  in  the  Indian  Territory.  Prompt  heed  should 
be  paid  to  the  need  of  education  for  the  children  in  this 
Territory. 

In  my  last  annual  Message  the  attention  of  the  Con 
gress  was  called  to  the  necessity  of  enlarging  the  safety- 
appliance  law,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  this  law 
was  amended  in  important  respects.  With  the  increasing 
railway  mileage  of  the  country,  the  greater  number  of 
men  employed,  and  the  use  of  larger  and  heavier  equip 
ment,  the  urgency  for  renewed  effort  to  prevent  the  loss 
of  life  and  limb  upon  the  railroads  of  the  country,  par 
ticularly  to  employees,  is  apparent.  For  the  inspection 
of  water  craft  and  the  Life-Saving  Service  upon  the  water 
the  Congress  has  built  up  an  elaborate  body  of  protective 
legislation  and  a  thorough  method  of  inspection  and  is 
annually  spending  large  sums  of  money  0  It  is  encourag 
ing  to  observe  that  the  Congress  is  alive  to  the  interests 
of  those  who  are  employed  upon  our  wonderful  arteries 
of  commerce — the  railroads — who  so  safely  transport 
millions  of  passengers  and  billions  of  tons  of  freight. 
The  Federal  inspection  of  safety  appliances,  for  which 
the  Congress  is  now  making  appropriations,  is  a  service 
analogous  to  that  which  the  Government  has  upheld  for 
generations  in  regard  to  vessels,  and  it  is  believed  will 
prove  of  great  practical  benefit,  both  to  railroad  employees 
and  the  travelling  public.  As  the  greater  part  of  com 
merce  is  interstate  and  exclusively  under  the  control  of 
the  Congress,  the  needed  safety  and  uniformity  must  be 
secured  by  national  legislation. 

No  other  class  of  our  citizens  deserves  so  well  of  the 


S8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  409 

Nation  as  those  to  whom  the  Nation  owes  its  very  being, 
the  veterans  of  the  Civil  War.  Special  attention  is  asked 
to  the  excellent  work  of  the  Pension  Bureau  in  expediting 
and  disposing  of  pension  claims.  During  the  fiscal  year 
ending  July  I,  1903,  the  Bureau  settled  251,982  claims, 
an  average  of  825  claims  for  each  working  day  of  the 
year.  The  number  of  settlements  since  July  i,  1903,  has 
been  in  excess  of  last  year's  average,  approaching  1000 
claims  for  each  working  day,  and  it  is  believed  that  the 
work  of  the  Bureau  will  be  current  at  the  close  of  the 
present  fiscal  year. 

During  the  year  ended  June  3Oth  last  25,566  persons 
were  appointed  through  competitive  examinations  under 
the  civil-service  rules.  This  was  12,672  more  than  during 
the  preceding  year,  and  forty  per  cent,  of  those  who 
passed  the  examinations.  This  abnormal  growth  was 
largely  occasioned  by  the  extension  of  classification  to 
the  rural  free-delivery  service  and  the  appointment  last 
year  of  over  nine  thousand  rural  carriers.  A  revision  of 
the  civil-service  rules  took  effect  on  April  I5th  last,  which 
has  greatly  improved  their  operation.  The  completion  of 
the  reform  of  the  civil  service  is  recognized  by  good  citi 
zens  everywhere  as  a  matter  of  the  highest  public  import 
ance,  and  the  success  of  the  merit  system  largely  depends 
upon  the  effectiveness  of  the  rules  and  the  machinery 
provided  for  their  enforcement.  A  very  gratifying  spirit 
of  friendly  co-operation  exists  in  all  the  Departments  of 
the  Government  in  the  enforcement  and  uniform  observ 
ance  of  both  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  civil-service  act. 
Executive  orders  of  July  3,  1902;  March  26,  1903,  and 
July  8,  1903,  require  that  appointments  of  all  unclassified 
laborers,  both  in  the  Departments  at  Washington  and  in 
the  field  service,  shall  be  made  with  the  assistance  of  the 
United  States  Civil  Service  Commission,  under  a  system  of 
registration  to  test  the  relative  fitness  of  applicants  for  ap 
pointment  or  employment.  This  system  is  competitive, 


4io  MESSAGES 

and  is  open  to  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  quali 
fied  in  respect  to  age,  physical  ability,  moral  character, 
industry,  and  adaptability  for  manual  labor;  except  that 
in  case  of  veterans  of  the  Civil  War  the  element  of  age  is 
omitted.  This  system  of  appointment  is  distinct  from 
the  classified  service  and  does  not  classify  positions  of 
mere  laborer  under  the  civil-service  act  and  rules.  Regu 
lations  in  aid  thereof  have  been  put  in  operation  in 
several  of  the  departments  and  are  being  gradually  ex 
tended  in  other  parts  of  the  service.  The  results  have 
been  very  satisfactory,  as  extravagance  has  been  checked 
by  decreasing  the  number  of  unnecessary  positions  and 
by  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  employees  remaining. 

The  Congress,  as  a  result  of  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  charities  and  reformatory  institutions  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  by  a  joint  select  committee  of  the  two 
Houses  which  made  its  report  in  March,  1898,  created 
in  the  act  approved  June  6,  1900,  a  board  of  charities  for 
the  District  of  Columbia,  to  consist  of  five  residents  of 
the  District,  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
each  for  a  term  of  three  years,  to  serve  without  compen 
sation.  President  McKinley  appointed  five  men  who 
had  been  active  and  prominent  in  the  public  charities  of 
Washington,  all  of  whom  upon  taking  office  July  I,  1900, 
resigned  from  the  different  charities  with  which  they  had 
been  connected.  The  members  of  the  board  have  been 
reappointed  in  successive  yearso  The  board  serves  under 
the  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  The 
board  gave  its  first  year  to  a  careful  and  impartial  study 
of  the  special  problems  before  it,  and  has  continued  that 
study  every  year  in  the  light  of  the  best  practice  in  public 
charities  elsewhere.  Its  recommendations  in  its  annual 
reports  to  the  Congress  through  the  Commissioners  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  "for  the  economical  and  efficient  ad 
ministration  of  the  charities  and  reformatories  of  the  Dis- 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          411 

trict  of  Columbia,"  as  required  by  the  act  creating  it,  have 
been  based  upon  the  principles  commended  by  the  joint 
select  committee  of  the  Congress  in  its  report  of  March, 
1898,  and  approved  by  the  best  administrators  of  public 
charities,  and  make  for  the  desired  systematization  and 
improvement  of  the  affairs  under  its  supervision.  They 
are  worthy  of  favorable  consideration  by  the  Congress. 

The  effect  of  the  laws  providing  a  General  Staff  for  the 
Army  and  for  the  more  effective  use  of  the  National 
Guard  has  been  excellent.  Great  improvement  has  been 
made  in  the  efficiency  of  our  Army  in  recent  years.  Such 
schools  as  those  erected  at  Fort  Leavenworth  and  Fort 
Riley  and  the  institution  of  fall  manoeuvre  work  accom 
plish  satisfactory  results.  The  good  effect  of  these 
manoeuvres  upon  the  National  Guard  is  marked,  and 
ample  appropriation  should  be  made  to  enable  the  guards 
men  of  the  several  States  to  share  in  the  benefit.  The 
Government  should  as  soon  as  possible  secure  suitable 
permanent  camp  sites  for  military  manoeuvres  in  the 
various  sections  of  the  country.  The  service  thereby 
rendered  not  only  to  the  Regular  Army,  but  to  the  Na 
tional  Guard  of  the  several  States,  will  be  so  great  as  to 
repay  many  times  over  the  relatively  small  expense.  We 
should  not  rest  satisfied  with  what  has  been  done,  how 
ever.  The  only  people  who  are  contented  with  a  system 
of  promotion  by  mere  seniority  are  those  who  are  con 
tented  with  the  triumph  of  mediocrity  over  excellence. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  system  which  encouraged  the  exer 
cise  of  social  or  political  favoritism  in  promotions  would 
be  even  worse.  But  it  would  surely  be  easy  to  devise  a 
method  of  promotion  from  grade  to  grade  in  which  the 
opinion  of  the  higher  officers  of  the  service  upon  the  can 
didates  should  be  decisive  upon  the  standing  and  pro 
motion  of  the  latter.  Just  such  a  system  now  obtains  at 
West  Point.  The  quality  of  each  year's  work  determines 
the  standing  of  that  year's  class,  the  man  being  dropped 


4I2  MESSAGES 

or  graduated  into  the  next  class  in  the  relative  position 
which  his  military  superiors  decide  to  be  warranted  by 
his  merit.  In  other  words,  ability,  energy,  fidelity,  and 
all  other  similar  qualities  determine  the  rank  of  a  man 
year  after  year  in  West  Point,  and  his  standing  in  the 
army  when  he  graduates  from  West  Point;  but  from 
that  time  on,  all  effort  to  find  which  man  is  best  or  worst, 
and  reward  or  punish  him  accordingly,  is  abandoned ;  no 
brilliancy,  no  amount  of  hard  work,  no  eagerness  in  the 
performance  of  duty,  can  advance  him,  and  no  slackness 
or  indifference  that  falls  short  of  a  court-martial  offence 
can  retard  him.  Until  this  system  is  changed  we  cannot 
hope  that  our  officers  will  be  of  as  high  grade  as  we  have 
a  right  to  expect,  considering  the  material  upon  which  we 
draw.  Moreover,  when  a  man  renders  such  service  as 
Captain  Pershing  rendered  last  spring  in  the  Moro  cam 
paign,  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  reward  him  without  at 
once  jumping  him  to  the  grade  of  brigadier-general. 

Shortly  after  the  enunciation  of  that  famous  principle 
of  American  foreign  policy  now  known  as  the  "Monroe 
Doctrine,"  President  Monroe,  in  a  special  Message  to 
Congress  on  January  30,  1824,  spoke  as  follows:  "The 
Navy  is  the  arm  from  which  our  Government  will  always 
derive  most  aid  in  support  of  our  .  .  „  rights.  Every 
power  engaged  in  war  will  know  the  strength  of  our  naval 
power,  the  number  of  our  ships  of  each  class,  their  con 
dition,  and  the  promptitude  with  which  we  may  bring 
them  into  service,  and  will  pay  due  consideration  to  that 
argument." 

I  heartily  congratulate  the  Congress  upon  the  steady 
progress  in  building  up  the  American  Navy.  We  cannot 
afford  a  let-up  in  this  great  work.  To  stand  still  means 
to  go  back.  There  should  be  no  cessation  in  adding  to 
the  effective  units  of  the  fighting  strength  of  the  fleet. 
Meanwhile  the  Navy  Department  and  the  officers  of  the 
Navy  are  doing  well  their  part  by  providing  constant 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          413 

service  at  sea  under  conditions  akin  to  those  of  actual 
warfare.  Our  officers  and  enlisted  men  are  learning  to 
handle  the  battleships,  cruisers,  and  torpedo  boats  with 
high  efficiency  in  fleet  and  squadron  formations,  and  the 
standard  of  marksmanship  is  being  steadily  raised.  The 
best  work  ashore  is  indispensable,  but  the  highest  duty 
of  a  naval  officer  is  to  exercise  command  at  sea. 

The  establishment  of  a  naval  base  in  the  Philippines 
ought  not  to  be  longer  postponed.  Such  a  base  is  de 
sirable  in  time  of  peace;  in  time  of  war  it  would  be  indis 
pensable,  and  its  lack  would  be  ruinous.  Without  it  our 
fleet  would  be  helpless.  Our  naval  experts  are  agreed 
that  Subig  Bay  is  the  proper  place  for  the  purpose.  The 
national  interests  require  that  the  work  of  fortification 
and  development  of  a  naval  station  at  Subig  Bay  be  be 
gun  at  an  early  date ;  for  under  the  best  conditions  it  is  a 
work  which  will  consume  much  time. 

It  is  eminently  desirable,  however,  that  there  should 
be  provided  a  naval  general  staff  on  lines  similar  to  those 
of  the  General  Staff  lately  created  for  the  Army.  Within 
the  Navy  Department  itself  the  needs  of  the  service  have 
brought  about  a  system  under  which  the  duties  of  a  gen 
eral  staff  are  partially  performed  ;  for  the  Bureau  of  Navi 
gation  has  under  its  direction  the  War  College,  the  Office 
of  Naval  Intelligence,  and  the  Board  of  Inspection,  and 
has  been  in  close  touch  with  the  General  Board  of  the 
Navy.  But  though  under  the  excellent  officers  at  their 
head,  these  boards  and  bureaus  do  good  work,  they  have 
not  the  authority  of  a  general  staff,  and  have  not  sufficient 
scope  to  insure  a  proper  readiness  for  emergencies.  We 
need  the  establishment  by  law  of  a  body  of  trained 
officers,  who  shall  exercise  a  systematic  control  of  the 
military  affairs  of  the  Navy,  and  be  authorized  advisers 
of  the  Secretary  concerning  it. 

By  the  act  of  June  28,  1902,  the  Congress  authorized 
the  President  to  enter  into  treaty  with  Colombia  for  the 


414 


MESSAGES 


building  of  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama;  it 
being  provided  that  in  the  event  of  failure  to  secure  such 
treaty  after  the  lapse  of  a  reasonable  time,  recourse  should 
be  had  to  building  a  canal  through  Nicaragua.  It  has 
not  been  necessary  to  consider  this  alternative,  as  I  am 
enabled  to  lay  before  the  Senate  a  treaty  providing  for 
the  building  of  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
This  was  the  route  which  commended  itself  to  the  de 
liberate  judgment  of  the  Congress,  and  we  can  now 
acquire  by  treaty  the  right  to  construct  the  canal  over 
this  route.  The  question  now,  therefore,  is  not  by  which 
route  the  isthmian  canal  shall  be  built,  for  that  question 
has  been  definitely  and  irrevocably  decided.  The  question 
is  simply  whether  or  not  we  shall  have  an  isthmian  canal. 

When  the  Congress  directed  that  we  should  take  the 
Panama  route  under  treaty  with  Colombia,  the  essence  of 
the  condition,  of  course,  referred  not  to  the  Government 
which  controlled  that  route,  but  to  the  route  itself;  to 
the  territory  across  which  the  route  lay,  not  to  the  name 
which  for  the  moment  the  territory  bore  on  the  map- 
The  purpose  of  the  law  was  to  authorize  the  President  to 
make  a  treaty  with  the  power  in  actual  control  of  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama.  This  purpose  has  been  fulfilled. 

In  the  year  1846  this  Government  entered  into  a  treaty 
with  New  Granada,  the  predecessor  upon  the  Isthmus  of 
the  Republic  of  Colombia  and  of  the  present  Republic  of 
Panama,  by  which  treaty  it  was  provided  that  the  Gov 
ernment  and  citizens  of  the  United  States  should  always 
have  free  and  open  right  of  way  or  transit  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  by  any  modes  of  communication  that 
might  be  constructed,  while  in  return  our  Government 
guaranteed  the  perfect  neutrality  of  the  above-mentioned 
Isthmus  with  the  view  that  the  free  transit  from  the  one 
to  the  other  sea  might  not  be  interrupted  or  embarrassed. 
The  treaty  vested  in  the  United  States  a  substantial 
property  right  carved  out  of  the  rights  of  sovereignty  and 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          415 

property  which  New  Granada  then  had  and  possessed 
over  the  said  territory.  The  name  of  New  Granada  has 
passed  away  and  its  territory  has  been  divided.  Its  suc 
cessor,  the  Government  of  Colombia,  has  ceased  to  own 
any  property  in  the  Isthmus.  A  new  Republic,  that  of 
Panama,  which  was  at  one  time  a  sovereign  state,  and  at 
another  time  a  mere  department  of  the  successive  con 
federations  known  as  New  Granada  and  Colombia,  has 
now  succeeded  to  the  rights  which  first  one  and  then  the 
other  formerly  exercised  over  the  Isthmus.  But  as  long 
as  the  Isthmus  endures,  the  mere  geographical  fact  of  its 
existence,  and  the  peculiar  interest  therein  which  is  re 
quired  by  our  position,  perpetuate  the  solemn  contract 
which  binds  the  holders  of  the  territory  to  respect  our 
right  to  freedom  of  transit  across  it,  and  binds  us  in  return 
to  safeguard  for  the  Isthmus  and  the  world  the  exercise 
of  that  inestimable  privilege.  The  true  interpretation  of 
the  obligations  upon  which  the  United  States  entered  in 
this  treaty  of  1846  has  been  given  repeatedly  in  the  utter 
ances  of  Presidents  and  Secretaries  of  State.  Secretary 
Cass  in  1858  officially  stated  the  position  of  this  Govern 
ment  as  follows : 

The  progress  of  events  has  rendered  the  interoceanic  route 
across  the  narrow  portion  of  Central  America  vastly  important 
to  the  commercial  world,  and  especially  to  the  United  States, 
whose  possessions  extend  along  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts, 
and  demand  the  speediest  and  easiest  modes  of  communication. 
While  the  rights  of  sovereignty  of  the  states  occupying  this 
region  should  always  be  respected,  we  shall  expect  that  these 
rights  be  exercised  in  a  spirit  befitting  the  occasion  and  the 
wants  and  circumstances  that  have  arisen.  Sovereignty  has 
its  duties  as  well  as  its  rights,  and  none  of  these  local  govern 
ments,  even  if  administered  with  more  regard  to  the  just 
demands  of  other  nations  than  they  have  been,  would  be  per 
mitted,  in  a  spirit  of  Eastern  isolation,  to  close  the  gates  of 
intercourse  on  the  great  highways  of  the  world,  and  justify  the 


416  MESSAGES 

act  by  the  pretension  that  these  avenues  of  trade  and  travel 
belong  to  them  and  that  they  choose  to  shut  them,  or,  what  is 
almost  equivalent,  to  encumber  them  with  such  unjust  relations 
as  would  prevent  their  general  use. 

Seven  years  later,  in  1865,  Mr.  Seward  in  different 
communications  took  the  following  position : 

The  United  States  have  taken  and  will  take  no  interest  in 
any  question  of  internal  revolution  in  the  State  of  Panama,  or 
any  State  of  the  United  States  of  Colombia,  but  will  maintain 
a  perfect  neutrality  in  connection  with  such  domestic  alterca 
tions.  The  United  States  will,  nevertheless,  hold  themselves 
ready  to  protect  the  transit  trade  across  the  Isthmus  against 
invasion  of  either  domestic  or  foreign  disturbers  of  the  peace 
of  the  State  of  Panama.  .  .  .  Neither  the  text  nor  the 
spirit  of  the  stipulation  in  that  article  by  which  the  United 
States  engages  to  preserve  the  neutrality  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  imposes  an  obligation  on  this  Government  to  comply 
with  the  requisition  [of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of 
Colombia  for  a  force  to  protect  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  from 
a  body  of  insurgents  of  that  country].  The  purpose  of  the 
stipulation  was  to  guarantee  the  Isthmus  against  seizure  or 
invasion  by  a  foreign  power  only. 

Attorney-General  Speed,  under  date  of  November  7, 
1865,  advised  Secretary  Seward  as  follows: 

From  this  treaty  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  New  Granada 
invited  the  United  States  to  become  a  party  to  the  intestine 
troubles  of  that  Government,  nor  did  the  United  States  be 
come  bound  to  take  sides  in  the  domestic  broils  of  New 
Granada.  The  United  States  did  guarantee  New  Granada  in 
the  sovereignty  and  property  over  the  territory.  This  was  as 
against  other  and  foreign  governments. 

For  four  hundred  years,  ever  since  shortly  after  the  dis 
covery  of  this  hemisphere,  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          417 

has  been  planned.  For  two-score  years  it  has  been 
worked  at.  When  made  it  is  to  last  for  the  ages.  It  is 
to  alter  the  geography  of  a  continent  and  the  trade  routes 
of  the  world.  We  have  shown  by  every  treaty  we  have 
negotiated  or  attempted  to  negotiate  with  the  peoples  in 
control  of  the  Isthmus  and  with  foreign  nations  in  refer 
ence  thereto  our  consistent  good  faith  in  observing  our 
obligations;  on  the  one  hand  to  the  peoples  of  the 
Isthmus,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  the  civilized  world 
whose  commercial  rights  we  are  safeguarding  and  guaran 
teeing  by  our  action.  We  have  done  our  duty  to  others 
in  letter  and  in  spirit,  and  we  have  shown  the  utmost 
forbearance  in  exacting  our  own  rights. 

Last  spring,  under  the  act  above  referred  to,  a  treaty 
concluded  between  the  representatives  of  the  Republic  of 
Colombia  and  of  our  Government  was  ratified  by  the  Sen 
ate.  This  treaty  was  entered  into  at  the  urgent  solicita 
tion  of  the  people  of  Colombia  and  after  a  body  of  experts 
appointed  by  our  Government  especially  to  go  into  the 
matter  of  the  routes  across  the  Isthmus  had  pronounced 
unanimously  in  favor  of  the  Panama  route.  In  drawing 
up  this  treaty  every  concession  was  made  to  the  people 
and  to  the  Government  of  Colombia.  We  were  more 
than  just  in  dealing  with  them.  Our  generosity  was  such 
as  to  make  it  a  serious  question  whether  we  had  not  gone 
too  far  in  their  interest  at  the  expense  of  our  own ;  for  in 
our  scrupulous  desire  to  pay  all  possible  heed,  not  merely 
to  the  real  but  even  to  the  fancied  rights  of  our  weaker 
neighbor,  who  already  owed  so  much  to  our  protection 
and  forbearance,  we  yielded  in  all  possible  ways  to  her 
desires  in  drawing  up  the  treaty.  Nevertheless  the  Gov 
ernment  of  Colombia  not  merely  repudiated  the  treaty, 
but  repudiated  it  in  such  manner  as  to  make  it  evident 
by  the  time  the  Colombian  Congress  adjourned  that  not 
the  scantiest  hope  remained  of  ever  getting  a  satisfactory 
treaty  from  them.  The  Government  of  Colombia  made 


4i8  MESSAGES 

the  treaty,  and  yet  when  the  Colombian  Congress  was 
called  to  ratify  it  the  vote  against  ratification  was  unan 
imous.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  Government  made 
any  real  effort  to  secure  ratification. 

Immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Congress  a 
revolution  broke  out  in  Panama.  The  people  of  Panama 
had  long  been  discontented  with  the  Republic  of  Colom 
bia,  and  they  had  been  kept  quiet  only  by  the  prospect  of 
the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  which  was  to  them  a  matter 
of  vital  concern.  When  it  became  evident  that  the  treaty 
was  hopelessly  lost,  the  people  of  Panama  rose  literally  as 
one  man,  Not  a  shot  was  fired  by  a  single  man  on  the 
Isthmus  in  the  interest  of  the  Colombian  Government. 
Not  a  life  was  lost  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  revolu 
tion.  The  Colombian  troops  stationed  on  the  Isthmus, 
who  had  long  been  unpaid,  made  common  cause  with  the 
people  of  Panama,  and  with  astonishing  unanimity  the 
new  Republic  was  started.  The  duty  of  the  United 
States  in  the  premises  was  clear.  In  strict  accordance 
with  the  principles  laid  down  by  Secretaries  Cass  and 
Seward  in  the  official  documents  above  quoted,  the 
United  States  gave  notice  that  it  would  permit  the  land 
ing  of  no  expeditionary  force,  the  arrival  of  which  would 
mean  chaos  and  destruction  along  the  line  of  the  railroad 
and  of  the  proposed  canal,  and  an  interruption  of  transit 
as  an  inevitable  consequence.  The  de  facto  Government 
of  Panama  was  recognized  in  the  following  telegram  to 
Mr.  Ehrman: 

The  people  of  Panama  have,  by  apparently  unanimous  move 
ment,  dissolved  their  political  connection  with  the  Republic  of 
Colombia  and  resumed  their  independence.  When  you  are 
satisfied  that  a  de  facto  government,  republican  in  form  and 
without  substantial  opposition  from  its  own  people,  has  been 
established  in  the  State  of  Panama,  you  will  enter  into  relations 
with  it  as  the  responsible  government  of  the  territory  and  look 
to  it  for  all  due  action  to  protect  the  persons  and  property  of 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          419 

citizens  of  the  United  States  and  to  keep  open  the  isthmian 
transit,  in  accordance  with  the  obligations  of  existing  treaties 
governing  the  relations  of  the  United  States  to  that  territory. 

The  Government  of  Colombia  was  notified  of  our  action 
by  the  following  telegram  to  Mr.  Beaupr£ : 

The  people  of  Panama  having,  by  an  apparently  unanimous 
movement,  dissolved  their  political  connection  with  the  Re- 
public  of  Colombia  and  resumed  their  independence,  and 
having  adopted  a  Government  of  their  own,  republican  in 
form,  with  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of 
America  has  entered  into  relations,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  accordance  with  the  ties  of  friendship  which  have 
so  long  and  so  happily  existed  between  the  respective  nations, 
most  earnestly  commends  to  the  Governments  of  Colombia 
and  of  Panama  the  peaceful  and  equitable  settlement  of  all 
questions  at  issue  between  them.  He  holds  that  he  is  bound 
not  merely  by  treaty  obligations,  but  by  the  interests  of  civili 
zation,  to  see  that  the  peaceful  traffic  of  the  world  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  shall  not  longer  be  disturbed  by  a  constant 
succession  of  unnecessary  and  wasteful  civil  wars. 

When  these  events  happened,  fifty-seven  years  had 
elapsed  since  the  United  States  had  entered  into  its  treaty 
with  New  Granada.  During  that  time  the  Governments 
of  New  Granada  and  of  its  successor,  Colombia,  have  been 
in  a  constant  state  of  flux.  The  following  is  a  partial  list 
of  the  disturbances  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  during  the 
period  in  question  as  reported  to  us  by  our  consuls.  It  is 
not  possible  to  give  a  complete  list,  and  some  of  the  re 
ports  that  speak  of  "revolutions"  must  mean  unsuccessful 
revolutions. 

May  22,  1850. —  Outbreak;  two  Americans  killed. 
War  vessel  demanded  to  quell  outbreak. 

October,  1850. —  Revolutionary  plot  to  bring  about 
independence  of  the  Isthmus. 

July  22,  1851. — Revolution  in  four  southern  provinces. 


42o  MESSAGES 

November  14,  1851. — Outbreak  at  Chagres.  Man-of- 
war  requested  for  Chagres. 

June  27,  1853. — Insurrection  at  Bogota,  and  consequent 
disturbance  on  Isthmus.  War  vessel  demanded. 

May  23,  1854. — Political  disturbances;  war  vessel  re 
quested. 

June  28,  1854. — Attempted  revolution. 

October  24,  1854. — Independence  of  Isthmus  demanded 
by  provincial  legislature. 

April,  1856. — Riot,  and  massacre  of  Americans. 

May  4,  1856. — Riot. 

May  1 8,  1856.— Riot. 

June  3,  1856. — Riot. 

October  2,  1856. — Conflict  between  two  native  parties. 
United  States  forces  landed. 

December  18,  1858. — Attempted  secession  of  Panama. 

April,  1859. — Riots. 

September,  1860. — Outbreak. 

October  4,  1860. — Landing  of  United  States  forces  in 
consequence. 

May  23,  1 861.— Intervention  of  the  United  States 
forces  required  by  intendente. 

October  2,  1861. — Insurrection  and  civil  war. 

April  4,  1862. — Measures  to  prevent  rebels  crossing 
Isthmus. 

June  13,  1862. — Mosquera's  troops  refused  admittance 
to  Panama. 

March,  1865. — Revolution,  and  United  States  troops 
landed. 

August,  1865. — Riots;  unsuccessful  attempt  to  invade 
Panama. 

March,  1866.—  Unsuccessful  revolution, 

April,  1867. — Attempt  to  overthrow  Government. 

August,  1867.— Attempt  at  revolution. 

July  5,  1868. — Revolution;  provisional  government 
inaugurated. 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          421 

August  29,  1868. — Revolution  ;  provisional  government 
overthrown. 

April,  1871. —  Revolution;  followed  apparently  by 
counter-revolution. 

April,  1873. — Revolution  and  civil  war  which  lasted  to 
October,  1875. 

August,  1876. — Civil  war  which  lasted  until  April,  1877. 

July,  1878.— Rebellion. 

December,  1878.— Revolt. 

April,  1879. — Revolution. 

June,  1879. — Revolution. 

March,  1883.— Riot. 

May,  1883.— Riot. 

June,  1884. — Revolutionary  attempt. 

December,  1884. — Revolutionary  attempt. 

January,  1885. — Revolutionary  disturbances. 

March,  1885. — Revolution. 

April,  1887. — Disturbance  on  Panama  Railroad. 

November,  1887. — Disturbance  on  line  of  canal. 

January,  1889. — Riot. 

January,  1895. — Revolution  which  lasted  until  April. 

March,  1895. — Incendiary  attempt. 

October,  1899. — Revolution. 

February,  1900,  to  July,  1900. — Revolution. 

January,  1901. — Revolution. 

July,  1901. — Revolutionary  disturbances. 

September,  1901. — City  of  Colon  taken  by  rebels. 

March,  1902. — Revolutionary  disturbances. 

July,  1902. — Revolution. 

The  above  is  only  a  partial  list  of  the  revolutions,  rebel 
lions,  insurrections,  riots,  and  other  outbreaks  that  have 
occurred  during  the  period  in  question ;  yet  they  number 
fifty-three  for  the  fifty-seven  years.  It  will  be  noted 
that  one  of  them  lasted  for  nearly  three  years  before  it 
was  quelled;  another  for  nearly  a  year.  In  short,  the 


422 


MESSAGES 


experience  of  over  half  a  century  has  shown  Colombia  to 
be  utterly  incapable  of  keeping  order  on  the  Isthmus. 
Only  the  active  interference  of  the  United  States  has  en 
abled  her  to  preserve  so  much  as  a  semblance  of  sover 
eignty.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  exercise  by  the  United 
States  of  the  police  power  in  her  interest,  her  connection 
with  the  Isthmus  would  have  been  sundered  long  ago.  In 
1856,  in  1860,  in  1873,  in  1885,  in  1901,  and  again  in  1902, 
sailors  and  marines  from  United  States  warships  were 
forced  to  land  in  order  to  patrol  the  Isthmus,  to  protect 
life  and  property,  and  to  see  that  the  transit  across  the 
Isthmus  was  kept  open.  In  1861,  in  1862,  in  1885,  and  in 
1900,  the  Colombian  Government  asked  that  the  United 
States  Government  would  land  troops  to  protect  its  in 
terests  and  maintain  order  on  the  Isthmus.  Perhaps  the 
most  extraordinary  request  is  that  which  has  just  been 
received  and  which  runs  as  follows : 

Knowing  that  revolution  has  already  commenced  in  Panama 
[an  eminent  Colombian]  says  that  if  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  will  land  troops  to  preserve  Colombian  sover 
eignty,  and  the  transit,  if  requested  by  Colombian  charg£ 
d'affaires,  this  Government  will  declare  martial  law;  and,  by 
virtue  of  vested  constitutional  authority,  when  public  order  is 
disturbed,  will  approve  by  decree  the  ratification  of  the  canal 
treaty  as  signed;  or,  if  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
prefers,  will  call  extra  session  of  the  Congress — with  new  and 
friendly  members  —  next  May  to  approve  the  treaty.  [An 
eminent  Colombian]  has  the  perfect  confidence  of  vice-presi 
dent,  he  says,  and  if  it  became  necessary  will  go  to  the  Isthmus 
or  send  representative  there  to  adjust  matters  along  above  lines 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people  there. 

This  dispatch  is  noteworthy  from  two  standpoints.  Its 
offer  of  immediately  guaranteeing  the  treaty  to  us  is  in 
sharp  contrast  with  the  positive  and  contemptuous  re 
fusal  of  the  Congress  which  has  just  closed  its  sessions  to 


58TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION  423 

consider  favorably  such  a  treaty;  it  shows  that  the  Gov 
ernment  which  made  the  treaty  really  had  absolute  con 
trol  over  the  situation,  but  did  not  choose  to  exercise  this 
control.  The  dispatch  further  calls  on  us  to  restore  order 
and  secure  Colombian  supremacy  in  the  Isthmus  from 
which  the  Colombian  Government  has  just  by  its  action 
decided  to  bar  us  by  preventing  the  construction  of  the 
canal. 

The  control,  in  the  interest  of  the  commerce  and  traffic 
of  the  whole  civilized  world,  of  the  means  of  undisturbed 
transit  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  has  become  of 
transcendent  importance  to  the  United  States.  We  have 
repeatedly  exercised  this  control  by  intervening  in  the 
course  of  domestic  dissension,  and  by  protecting  the  ter 
ritory  from  foreign  invasion.  In  1853  Mr.  Everett  assured 
the  Peruvian  minister  that  we  should  not  hesitate  to  main 
tain  the  neutrality  of  the  Isthmus  in  the  case  of  war  be 
tween  Peru  and  Colombia.  In  1864  Colombia,  which  has 
always  been  vigilant  to  avail  itself  of  its  privileges  con 
ferred  by  the  treaty,  expressed  its  expectation  that  in  the 
event  of  war  between  Peru  and  Spain  the  United  States 
would  carry  into  effect  the  guaranty  of  neutrality.  There 
have  been  few  administrations  of  the  State  Department 
in  which  this  treaty  has  not,  either  by  the  one  side  or  the 
other,  been  used  as  a  basis  of  more  or  less  important  de 
mands.  It  was  said  by  Mr.  Fish  in  1871  that  the  Depart 
ment  of  State  had  reason  to  believe  that  an  attack  upon 
Colombian  sovereignty  on  the  Isthmus  had,  on  several 
occasions,  been  averted  by  warning  from  this  Govern 
ment.  In  1886,  when  Colombia  was  under  the  menace  of 
hostilities  from  Italy  in  the  Cerruti  case,  Mr.  Bayard  ex 
pressed  the  serious  concern  that  the  United  States  could 
not  but  feel,  that  a  European  power  should  resort  to 
force  against  a  sister  republic  of  this  hemisphere,  as  to  the 
sovereign  and  uninterrupted  use  of  a  part  of  whose  terri 
tory  we  are  guarantors  under  the  solemn  faith  of  a  treaty. 


424 


MESSAGES 


The  above  recital  of  facts  establishes  beyond  question : 
First,  that  the  United  States  has  for  over  half  a  century 
patiently  and  in  good  faith  carried  out  its  obligations 
under  the  treaty  of  1846;  second,  that  when  for  the  first 
time  it  became  possible  for  Colombia  to  do  anything  in 
requital  of  the  services  thus  repeatedly  rendered  to  it  for 
fifty-seven  years  by  the  United  States,  the  Colombian 
Government  peremptorily  and  offensively  refused  thus  to 
do  its  part,  even  though  to  do  so  would  have  been  to 
its  advantage  and  immeasurably  to  the  advantage  of  the 
State  of  Panama,  at  that  time  under  its  jurisdiction; 
third,  that  throughout  this  period  revolutions,  riots,  and 
factional  disturbances  of  every  kind  have  occurred  one 
after  the  other  in  almost  uninterrupted  succession,  some 
of  them  lasting  for  months  and  even  for  years,  while  the 
central  government  was  unable  to  put  them  down  or  to 
make  peace  with  the  rebels;  fourth,  that  these  disturb 
ances  instead  of  showing  any  sign  of  abating  have  tended 
to  grow  more  numerous  and  more  serious  in  the  immedi 
ate  past;  fifth,  that  the  control  of  Colombia  over  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  could  not  be  maintained  without  the 
armed  intervention  and  assistance  of  the  United  States. 
In  other  words,  the  Government  of  Colombia,  though 
wholly  unable  to  maintain  order  on  the  Isthmus,  has 
nevertheless  declined  to  ratify  a  treaty  the  conclusion  of 
which  opened  the  only  chance  to  secure  its  own  stability 
and  to  guarantee  permanent  peace  on,  and  the  construc 
tion  of  a  canal  across,  the  Isthmus. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  would  have  been  guilty  of  folly  and  weak 
ness,  amounting  in  their  sum  to  a  crime  against  the 
Nation,  had  it  acted  otherwise  than  it  did  when  the 
revolution  of  November  3d  last  took  place  in  Panama. 
This  great  enterprise  of  building  the  interoceanic  canal 
cannot  be  held  up  to  gratify  the  whims,  or  out  of  respect 
to  the  governmental  impotence,  or  to  the  even  more  sin- 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  2ND  SESSION          425 

ister  and  evil  political  peculiarities,  of  people  who,  though 
they  dwell  afar  off,  yet,  against  the  wish  of  the  actual 
dwellers  on  the  Isthmus,  assert  an  unreal  supremacy  over 
the  territory.  The  possession  of  a  territory  fraught  with 
such  peculiar  capacities  as  the  Isthmus  in  question  carries 
with  it  obligations  to  mankind.  The  course  of  events 
has  shown  that  this  canal  cannot  be  built  by  private 
enterprise,  or  by  any  other  nation  than  our  own ;  there 
fore  it  must  be  built  by  the  United  States. 

Every  effort  has  been  made  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  persuade  Colombia  to  follow  a  course 
which  was  essentially  not  only  to  our  interests  and  to  the 
interests  of  the  world,  but  to  the  interests  of  Colombia 
itself.  These  efforts  have  failed ;  and  Colombia,  by  her 
persistence  in  repulsing  the  advances  that  have  been  made, 
has  forced  us,  for  the  sake  of  our  own  honor,  and  of  the 
interest  and  well-being,  not  merely  of  our  own  people, 
but  of  the  people  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  the  peo 
ple  of  the  civilized  countries  of  the  world,  to  take  decisive 
steps  to  bring  to  an  vend  a  condition  of  affairs  which  had 
become  intolerable.  xThe  new  Republic  of  Panama  im 
mediately  offered  to  Negotiate  a  treaty  with  us.  This 
treaty  I  herewith  submit.  By  it  our  interests  are  better 
safeguarded  than  in  the  treaty  with  Colombia  which  was 
ratified  by  the  Senate  at  its  last  session.  It  is  better  in 
its  terms  than  the  treaties  offered  to  us  by  the  Republics 
of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Ric/.  At  last  the  right  to  begin 
this  great  undertaking  is  made  available.  Panama  has 
done  her  part.  All  that  remains  is  for  the  American 
Congress  to  do  its  part  and  forthwith  this  Republic  will 
enter  upon  the  execution  of  a  project  colossal  in  its  size 
and  of  well-nigh  incalculable  possibilities  for  the  good  of 
this  country  and  the  nations  of  mankind. 
\By  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  the  United  States  guar 
antees  and  will  maintain  the  independence  of  the  Repub 
lic  of  Panama.  There  is  granted  to  the  United  States  in 


426  MESSAGES 

perpetuity  the  use,  occupation,  and  control  of  a  strip  ten 
miles  wide  and  extending  three  nautical  miles  into  the  sea 
at  either  terminal,  with  all  lands  lying  outside  of  the  zone 
necessary  for  the  construction  of  the  canal  or  for  its 
auxiliary  works,  and  with  the  islands  in  the  Bay  of  Pana 
ma.  The  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  are  not  embraced 
in  the  canal  zone,  but  the  United  States  assumes  their 
sanitation  and,  in  case  of  need,  the  maintenance  of  order 
therein;  the  United  States  enjoys  within  the  granted 
limits  all  the  rights,  power,  and  authority  which  it  would 
possess  were  it  the  sovereign  of  the  territory  to  the  ex 
clusion  of  the  exercise  of  sovereign  rights  by  the  Repub 
lic.  All  railway  and  canal  property  rights  belonging  to 
Panama  and  needed  for  the  canal  pass  to  the  United 
States,  including  any  property  of  the  respective  com 
panies  in  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon;  the  works, 
property,  and  personnel  of  the  canal  and  railways  are 
exempted  from  taxation  as  well  in  the  cities  of  Panama 
and  Colon  as  in  the  canal  zone  and  its  dependencies. 
Free  immigration  of  the  personnel  and  importation  of 
supplies  for  the  construction  and  operation  of  the  canal 
are  granted.  Provision  is  made  for  the  use  of  military 
force  and  the  building  of  fortifications  by  the  United 
States  for  the  protection  of  the  transit.  In  other  details, 
particularly  as  to  the  acquisition  of  the  interests  of  the 
New  Panama  Canal  Company  and  the  Panama  Railway 
by  the  United  States  and  the  condemnation  of  private 
property  for  the  uses  of  the  canal,  the  stipulations  of  the 
Hay-Herran  treaty  are  closely  followed,  while  the  com 
pensation  to  be  given  for  these  enlarged  grants  remains 
the  same,  being  ten  millions  of  dollars  payable  on  ex 
change  of  ratification;  and,  beginning  nine  years  from 
that  date,  an  annual  payment  of  $250,000  during  the  life 
of  the  convention. 
WHITE  HOUSE,  December  7,  1903. 


MESSAGE  COMMUNICATED  TO  THE  TWO  HOUSES 
OF  CONGRESS  ON  JANUARY  4,   1904 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  : 

I  lay  before  the  Congress  for  its  information  a  statement 
of  my  action  up  to  this  time  in  executing  the  act  entitled 
4 'An  act  to  provide  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  con 
necting  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans," 
approved  June  28,  1902. 

By  the  said  act  the  President  was  authorized  to  secure 
for  the  United  States  the  property  of  the  Panama  Canal 
Company  and  the  perpetual  control  of  a  strip  six  miles 
wide  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  It  was  further  pro 
vided  that  "should  the  President  be  unable  to  obtain  for 
the  United  States  a  satisfactory  title  to  the  property  of 
the  New  Panama  Canal  Company  and  the  control  of  the 
necessary  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia  .  . 
within  a  reasonable  time  and  upon  reasonable  terms,  then 
the  President"  should  endeavor  to  provide  for  a  canal  by 
the  Nicaragua  route.  The  language  quoted  defines  with 
exactness  and  precision  what  was  to  be  done,  and  what 
as  a  matter  of  fact  has  been  done.  The  President  was 
authorized  to  go  to  the  Nicaragua  route  only  if  within  a 
reasonable  time  he  could  not  obtain  "control  of  the 
necessary  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia."  This 
control  has  now  been  obtained ;  the  provision  of  the  act 
has  been  complied  with;  it  is  no  longer  possible  under 
existing  legislation  to  go  to  the  Nicaragua  route  as  an 
alternative. 

This  act  marked  the  climax  of  the  effort  on  the  part  of 

427 


428  MESSAGES 

the  United  States  to  secure,  so  far  as  legislation  was  con 
cerned,  an  interoceanic  canal  across  the  Isthmus.  The 
effort  to  secure  a  treaty  for  this  purpose  with  one  of  the 
Central  American  republics  did  not  stand  on  the  same 
footing  with  the  effort  to  secure  a  treaty  under  any  ordi 
nary  conditions.  The  proper  position  for  the  United 
States  to  assume  in  reference  to  this  canal,  and  therefore 
to  the  governments  of  the  Isthmus,  had  been  clearly  set 
forth  by  Secretary  Cass  in  1858.  In  my  annual  Message 
I  have  already  quoted  what  Secretary  Cass  said ;  but  I 
repeat  the  quotation  here,  because  the  principle  it  states 
is  fundamental : 

While  the  rights  of  sovereignty  of  the  states  occupying  this 
region  (Central  America)  should  always  be  respected,  we  shall 
expect  that  these  rights  be  exercised  in  a  spirit  befitting  the 
occasion  and  the  wants  and  circumstances  that  have  arisen. 
Sovereignty  has  its  duties  as  well  as  its  rights,  and  none  of 
these  local  governments,  even  if  administered  with  more  regard 
to  the  just  demands  of  other  nations  than  they  have  been, 
would  be  permitted,  in  a  spirit  of  Eastern  isolation,  to  close 
the  gates  of  intercourse  on  the  great  highways  of  the  world, 
and  justify  the  act  by  the  pretension  that  these  avenues  of 
trade  and  travel  belong  to  them  and  that  they  choose  to  shut 
them,  or,  what  is  almost  equivalent,  to  encumber  them  with 
such  unjust  relations  as  would  prevent  their  general  use. 

The  principle  thus  enunciated  by  Secretary  Cass  was 
sound  then  and  it  is  sound  now.  The  United  States  has 
taken  the  position  that  no  other  Government  is  to  build 
the  canal.  In  1889,  when  France  proposed  to  come  to 
the  aid  of  the  French  Panama  Company  by  guaranteeing 
their  bonds,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  executive 
session,  with  only  some  three  votes  dissenting,  passed  a 
resolution  as  follows : 

That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  look  with 
serious  concern  and  disapproval  upon  any  connection  of  any 


5&TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       429 

European  Government  with  the  construction  or  control  of  any 
ship  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  or  across  Central 
America,  and  must  regard  any  such  connection  or  control  as 
injurious  to  the  just  rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States 
and  as  a  menace  to  their  welfare. 

Under  the  Hay-Pauncefote  treaty  it  was  explicitly  pro 
vided  that  the  United  States  should  control,  police,  and 
protect  the  canal  which  was  to  be  built,  keeping  it  open 
for  the  vessels  of  all  nations  on  equal  terms.  The  United 
States  thus  assumed  the  position  of  guarantor  of  the  canal 
and  of  its  peaceful  use  by  all  the  world.  The  guaranty 
included  as  a  matter  of  course  the  building  of  the  canal. 
The  enterprise  was  recognized  as  responding  to  an  inter 
national  need ;  and  it  would  be  the  veriest  travesty  on 
right  and  justice  to  treat  the  governments  in  possession 
of  the  Isthmus  as  having-  the  right,  in  the  language  of  Mr. 
Cass,  "to  close  the  gates  of  intercourse  on  the  great  high 
ways  of  the  world,  and  justify  the  act  by  the  pretension 
that  these  avenues  of  trade  and  travel  belong  to  them  and 
that  they  choose  to  shut  them." 

When  this  Government  submitted  to  Colombia  the 
Hay-Herran  treaty  three  things  were,  therefore,  already 
settled. 

One  was  that  the  canal  should  be  built.  The  time  for 
delay,  the  time  for  permitting  the  attempt  to  be  made  by 
private  enterprise,  the  time  for  permitting  any  govern 
ment  of  anti-social  spirit  and  of  imperfect  development  to 
bar  the  work,  was  past.  The  United  States  had  assumed 
in  connection  with  the  canal  certain  responsibilities,  not 
only  to  its  own  people  but  to  the  civilized  world,  which 
imperatively  demanded  that  there  should  no  longer  be 
delay  in  beginning  the  work. 

Second.  While  it  was  settled  that  the  canal  should  be 
built  without  unnecessary  or  improper  delay,  it  was  no 
less  clearly  shown  to  be  our  purpose  to  deal  not  merely 


430 


MESSAGES 


in  a  spirit  of  justice  but  in  a  spirit  of  generosity  with  the 
people  through  whose  land  we  might  build  it.  The  Hay- 
Herran  treaty,  if  it  erred  at  all,  erred  in  the  direction  of 
an  over-generosity  towards  the  Colombian  Government. 
In  our  anxiety  to  be  fair  we  had  gone  to  the  very  verge 
in  yielding  to  a  weak  nation's  demands  what  that  nation 
was  helplessly  unable  to  enforce  from  us  against  our  will. 
f'  The  only  criticisms  made  upon  the  Administration  for 
the  terms  of  the  Hay-Herran  treaty  were  for  having 
granted  too  much  to  Colombia,  not  for  failure  to  grant 
enough.  Neither  in  the  Congress  nor  in  the  public  press, 
at  the  time  that  this  treaty  was  formulated,  was  there 
complaint  that  it  did  not  in  the  fullest  and  amplest  man 
ner  guarantee  to  Colombia  everything  that  she  could  by 
any  color  of  title  demand. 

Nor  is  the  fact  to  be  lost  sight  of  that  the  rejected 
treaty,  while  generously  responding  to  the  pecuniary  de 
mands  of  Colombia,  in  other  respects  merely  provided  for 
the  construction  of  the  canal  in  conformity  with  the  ex 
press  requirements  of  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  June  28, 
1902.  By  that  act,  as  heretofore  quoted,  the  President 
was  authorized  to  acquire  from  Colombia,  for  the  pur 
poses  of  the  canal,  "perpetual  control"  of  a  certain  strip 
of  land ;  and  it  was  expressly  required  that  the  "control" 
thus  to  be  obtained  should  include  "jurisdiction"  to 
make  police  and  sanitary  regulations  and  to  establish  such 
judicial  tribunals  as  might  be  agreed  on  for  their  enforce 
ment.  These  were  conditions  precedent  prescibed  by  the 
Congress;  and  for  their  fulfilment  suitable  stipulations 
were  embodied  in  the  treaty.  It  has  been  stated  in  pub 
lic  prints  that  Colombia  objected  to  these  stipulations,  on 
the  ground  that  they  involved  a  relinquishment  of  her 
"sovereignty" ;  but  in  the  light  of  what  has  taken  place, 
this  alleged  objection  must  be  considered  as  an  after 
thought.  In  reality,  the  treaty,  instead  of  requiring  a 
cession  of  Colombia's  sovereignty  over  the  canal  strip, 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       431 

expressly  acknowledged,  confirmed,  and  preserved  her 
sovereignty  over  it.  The  treaty  in  this  respect  simply 
proceeded  on  the  lines  on  which  all  the  negotiations  lead 
ing  up  to  the  present  situation  have  been  conducted.  In 
those  negotiations  the  exercise  by  the  United  States,  sub 
ject  to  the  paramount  rights  of  the  local  sovereign,  of  a 
substantial  control  over  the  canal  and  the  immediately 
adjacent  territory,  has  been  treated  as  a  fundamental  part 
of  any  arrangement  that  might  be  made.  It  has  formed 
an  essential  feature  of  all  our  plans,  and  its  necessity  is 
fully  recognized  in  the  Hay-Pauncefote  treaty.  The 
Congress,  in  providing  that  such  control  should  be 
secured,  adopted  no  new  principle,  but  only  incorporated 
in  its  legislation  a  condition  the  importance  and  propriety 
of  which  were  universally  recognized.  During  all  the 
years  of  negotiation  and  discussion  that  preceded  the 
conclusion  of  the  Hay-Herran  treaty,  Colombia  never  in 
timated  that  the  requirement  by  the  United  States  of 
control  over  the  canal  strip  would  render  unattainable 
the  construction  of  a  canal  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Pana 
ma  ;  nor  were  we  advised,  during  the  months  when  legis 
lation  of  1902  was  pending  before  the  Congress,  that  the 
terms  which  it  embodied  would  render  negotiations  with 
Colombia  impracticable.  It  is  plain  that  no  nation  could 
construct  and  guarantee  the  neutrality  of  the  canal  with  a 
less  degree  of  control  than  was  stipulated  for  in  the  Hay- 
Herran  treaty.  A  refusal  to  grant  such  degree  of  control 
was  necessarily  a  refusal  to  make  any  practicable  treaty 
at  all.  Such  refusal  therefore  squarely  raised  the  question 
whether  Colombia  was  entitled  to  bar  the  transit  of  the 
world's  traffic  across  the  Isthmus. 

That  the  canal  itself  was  eagerly  demanded  by  the  peo 
ple  of  the  locality  through  which  it  was  to  pass,  and  that 
the  people  of  this  locality  no  less  eagerly  longed  for  its 
construction  under  American  control,  are  shown  by  the 
unanimity  of  action  in  the  new  Panama  Republic. 


432  MESSAGES 

Furthermore,  Colombia,  after  having  rejected  the  treaty 
in  spite  of  our  protests  and  warnings  when  it  was  in  her 
power  to  accept  it,  has  since  shown  the  utmost  eagerness 
to  accept  the  same  treaty  if  only  the  status  quo  could  be 
restored.  One  of  the  men  standing  highest  in  the  official 
circles  of  Colombia,  on  November  6th,  addressed  the 
American  Minister  at  Bogota,  saying  that  if  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  would  land  troops  to  preserve 
Colombian  sovereignty  and  the  transit,  the  Colombian 
Government  would  "declare  martial  law;  and,  by  virtue 
of  vested  constitutional  authority,  when  public  order  is 
disturbed,  [would]  approve  by  decree  the  ratification  of 
the  canal  treaty  as  signed ;  or,  if  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  prefers,  [would]  call  extra  session  of 
the  Congress — with  new  and  friendly  members — next 
May  to  approve  the  treaty. ' '  Having  these  facts  in  view, 
there  is  no  shadow  of  question  that  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  proposed  a  treaty  which  was  not 
merely  just  but  generous  to  Colombia;  which  our  people 
regarded  as  erring,  if  at  all,  on  the  side  of  over-generosity ; 
which  was  hailed  with  delight  by  the  people  of  the  im 
mediate  locality  through  which  the  canal  was  to  pass,  who 
were  most  concerned  as  to  the  new  order  of  things,  and 
which  the  Colombian  authorities  now  recognize  as  being 
so  good  that  they  are  willing  to  promise  its  unconditional 
ratification  if  only  we  will  desert  those  who  have  shown 
themselves  our  friends  and  restore  to  those  who  have 
shown  themselves  unfriendly  the  power  to  undo  what 
they  did.  I  pass  by  the  question  as  to  what  assurance 
we  have  that  they  would  now  keep  their  pledge  and  not 
again  refuse  to  ratify  the  treaty  if  they  had  the  power; 
for,  of  course,  I  will  not  for  one  moment  discuss  the  pos 
sibility  of  the  United  States  committing  an  act  of  such 
baseness  as  to  abandon  the  new  Republic  of  Panama. 

Third.    Finally  the  Congress  definitely  settled  where 
the  canal  was  to  be  built.     It  was  provided  that  a  treaty 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4.,  1904       433 

should  be  made  for  building  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama;  and  if,  after  reasonable  time,  it  proved  im 
possible  to  secure  such  treaty,  that  then  we  should  go  to 
Nicaragua.  The  treaty  has  been  made;  for  it  needs  no 
argument  to  show  that  the  intent  of  the  Congress  was  to 
insure  a  canal  across  Panama,  and  that  whether  the  repub 
lic  granting  the  title  was  called  New  Granada,  Colombia, 
or  Panama  mattered  not  one  whit.  As  events  turned  out, 
the  question  of  "reasonable  time"  did  not  enter  into  the 
matter  at  all.  Although,  as  the  months  went  by,  it  be 
came  increasingly  improbable  that  the  Colombian  Con 
gress  would  ratify  the  treaty  or  take  steps  which  would 
be  equivalent  thereto,  yet  all  chance  for  such  action  on 
their  part  did  not  vanish  until  the  Congress  closed  at  the 
end  of  October;  and  within  three  days  thereafter  the 
revolution  in  Panama  had  broken  out.  Panama  became 
an  independent  state,  and  the  control  of  the  territory 
necessary  for  building  the  canal  then  became  obtainable. 
The  condition  under  which  alone  we  could  have  gone  to 
Nicaragua  thereby  became  impossible  of  fulfilment.  If 
the  pending  treaty  with  Panama  should  not  be  ratified  by 
the  Senate  this  would  not  alter  the  fact  that  we  could 
not  go  to  Nicaragua.  The  Congress  has  decided  the  route, 
and  there  is  no  alternative  under  existing  legislation. 

When  in  August  it  began  to  appear  probable  that  the 
Colombian  Legislature  would  not  ratify  the  treaty  it  be 
came  incumbent  upon  me  to  consider  well  what  the  situa 
tion  was  and  to  be  ready  to  advise  the  Congress  as  to 
what  were  the  various  alternatives  of  action  open  to  us. 
There  were  several  possibilities.  One  was  that  Colombia 
would  at  the  last  moment  see  the  unwisdom  of  her  posi 
tion.  That  there  might  be  nothing  omitted,  Secretary 
Hay,  through  the  Minister  at  Bogota,  repeatedly  warned 
Colombia  that  grave  consequences  might  follow  from  her 
rejection  of  the  treaty.  Although  it  was  a  constantly 

diminishing  chance,  yet  the  possibility  of  ratification  did 

28 


434  MESSAGES 

not  wholly  pass  away  until  the  close  of  the  session  of  the 
Colombian  Congress. 

A  second  alternative  was  that  by  the  close  of  the  session 
on  the  last  day  of  October,  without  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  by  Colombia  and  without  any  steps  taken  by  Pana 
ma,  the  American  Congress  on  assembling  early  in  No 
vember  would  be  confronted  with  a  situation  in  which 
there  had  been  a  failure  to  come  to  terms  as  to  building 
the  canal  along  the  Panama  route,  and  yet  there  had  not 
been  a  lapse  of  a  reasonable  time — using  the  word  reason 
able  in  any  proper  sense  —  such  as  would  justify  the 
Administration  going  to  the  Nicaragua  route.  This 
situation  seemed  on  the  whole  the  most  likely,  and  as  a 
matter  of  fact  I  had  made  the  original  draft  of  my  Mes 
sage  to  the  Congress  with  a  view  to  its  existence. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  eminent  international  jurists  that 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  great  design  of  our  guaranty 
under  the  treaty  of  1846  was  to  dedicate  the  Isthmus  to 
the  purposes  of  interoceanic  transit,  and  above  all  to 
secure  the  construction  of  an  interoceanic  canal,  Colombia 
could  not  under  existing  conditions  refuse  to  enter  into  a 
proper  arrangement  with  the  United  States  to  that  end, 
without  violating  the  spirit  and  substantially  repudiating 
the  obligations  of  a  treaty  the  full  benefits  of  which  she 
had  enjoyed  for  over  fifty  years.  My  intention  was  to 
consult  the  Congress  as  to  whether  under  such  circum 
stances  it  would  not  be  proper  to  announce  that  the  canal 
was  to  be  dug  forthwith ;  that  we  would  give  the  terms 
that  we  had  offered  and  no  others ;  and  that  if  such  terms 
were  not  agreed  to  we  would  enter  into  an  arrangement 
with  Panama  direct,  or  take  what  other  steps  were  need 
ful  in  order  to  begin  the  enterprise. 

A  third  possibility  was  that  the  people  of  the  Isthmus, 
who  had  formerly  constituted  an  independent  state,  and 
who  until  recently  were  united  to  Colombia  only  by  a 
loose  tie  of  federal  relationship,  might  take  the  protection 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4.,  1904       435 

of  their  own  vital  interests  into  their  own  hands,  reassert 
their  former  rights,  declare  their  independence  upon  just 
grounds,  and  establish  a  government  competent  and  will 
ing  to  do  its  share  in  this  great  work  for  civilization. 
This  third  possibility  is  what  actually  occurred.  Every 
one  knew  that  it  was  a  possibility,  but  it  was  not  until 
towards  the  end  of  October  that  it  appeared  to  be  an 
imminent  probability.  Although  the  Administration,  of 
course,  had  special  means  of  knowledge,  no  such  means 
were  necessary  in  order  to  appreciate  the  possibility,  and 
toward  the  end  the  likelihood,  of  such  a  revolutionary 
outbreak  and  of  its  success.  It  was  a  matter  of  common 
notoriety.  Quotations  from  the  daily  papers  could  be 
indefinitely  multiplied  to  show  this  state  of  affairs;  a  very 
few  will  suffice.  From  Costa  Rica  on  August  3ist  a 
special  was  sent  to  the  Washington  Post,  running  as 
follows : 

SAN  Jos£,  COSTA  RICA,  August  3ist. 

Travellers  from  Panama  report  the  Isthmus  alive  with  fires 
of  a  new  revolution.  It  is  inspired,  it  is  believed,  by  men 
who,  in  Panama  and  Colon,  have  systematically  engendered 
the  pro- American  feeling  to  secure  the  building  of  the  Isthmian 
Canal  by  the  United  States. 

The  Indians  have  risen,  and  the  late  followers  of  Gen.  Ben 
jamin  Herrera  are  mustering  in  the  mountain  villages,  prepara 
tory  to  joining  in  an  organized  revolt,  caused  by  the  rejection 
of  the  canal  treaty. 

Hundreds  of  stacks  of  arms,  confiscated  by  the  Colombian 
Government  at  the  close  of  the  late  revolution,  have  reappeared 
from  some  mysterious  source,  and  thousands  of  rifles  that  look 
suspiciously  like  the  Mausers  the  United  States  captured  in 
Cuba  are  issuing  to  the  gathering  forces  from  central  points  of 
distribution.  With  the  arms  goes  ammunition,  fresh  from 
factories,  showing  the  movement  is  not  spasmodic,  but  is  care 
fully  planned. 

The  Government  forces  in  Panama  and  Colon,  numbering 


436  MESSAGES 

less  than  1500  men,  are  reported  to  be  a  little  more  than 
friendly  to  the  revolutionary  spirit.  They  have  been  ill  paid 
since  the  revolution  closed  and  their  only  hope  of  prompt  pay 
ment  is  another  war. 

General  Huertes,  commander  of  the  forces,  who  is  osten 
sibly  loyal  to  the  Bogota  Government,  is  said  to  be  secretly 
friendly  to  the  proposed  revolution.  At  least,  all  his  personal 
friends  are  open  in  denunciation  of  the  Bogota  Government 
and  the  failure  of  the  Colombian  Congress  to  ratify  the  canal 
treaty. 

The  consensus  of  opinion  gathered  from  late  arrivals  from 
the  Isthmus  is  that  the  revolution  is  coming,  and  that  it  will 
succeed. 

A  special  dispatch  to  the  Washington  Post,  under  date 
of  New  York,  September  1st,  runs  as  follows: 

B.  G.  Duque,  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Panama  Star  and 
Herald,  a  resident  of  the  Isthmus  during  the  past  twenty- 
seven  years,  who  arrived  to-day  in  New  York,  declared  that  if 
the  canal  treaty  fell  through  a  revolution  would  be  likely  to 
follow. 

'There  is  a  very  strong  feeling  in  Panama,"  said  Mr. 
Duque,  "that  Colombia,  in  negotiating  the  sale  of  a  canal 
concession  in  Panama,  is  looking  for  profits  that  might  just  as 
well  go  to  Panama  herself. 

'  The  Colombian  Government,  only  the  other  day,  sup 
pressed  a  newspaper  that  dared  to  speak  of  independence  for 
Panama.  A  while  ago  there  was  a  secret  plan  afoot  to  cut 
loose  from  Colombia  and  seek  the  protection  of  the  United 
States." 

In  the  New  York  Herald  of  September  loth  the  follow 
ing  statement  appeared : 

Representatives  of  strong  interests  on  the  Isthmus  of  Pana 
ma,  who  make  their  headquarters  in  this  city,  are  considering 
a  plan  of  action  to  be  undertaken  in  co-operation  with  men  of 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904.       437 

similar  views  in  Panama  and  Colon  to  bring  about  a  revolu 
tion  and  form  an  independent  government  in  Panama  opposed 
to  that  in  Bogota. 

There  is  much  indignation  on  the  Isthmus  on  account  of  the 
failure  of  the  canal  treaty,  which  is  ascribed  to  the  authorities 
at  Bogota.  This  opinion  is  believed  to  be  shared  by  a  major 
ity  of  the  Isthmians  of  all  shades  of  political  belief,  and  they 
think  it  is  to  their  best  interest  for  a  new  republic  to  be  formed 
on  the  Isthmus,  which  may  negotiate  directly  with  the  United 
States  a  new  treaty  which  will  permit  the  digging  of  the 
Panama  Canal  under  favorable  conditions. 

In  the  New  York  Times,  under  date  of  September  I3th, 
there  appeared  from  Bogota  the  following  statement : 

A  proposal  made  by  Sefior  Perez  y  Sotos  to  ask  the  Executive 
to  appoint  an  anti-secessionist  governor  in  Panama  has  been 
approved  by  the  Senate.  Speakers  in  the  Senate  said  that 
Sefior  Obaldia,  who  was  recently  appointed  governor  of  Pana 
ma,  and  who  is  favorable  to  a  canal  treaty,  was  a  menace  to 
the  national  integrity.  Senator  Marroquin  protested  against 
the  action  of  the  Senate. 

President  Marroquin  succeeded  later  in  calming  the  Con 
gressmen.  It  appears  that  he  was  able  to  give  them  satisfac 
tory  reasons  for  Governor  Obaldia's  appointment.  He  ap 
pears  to  realize  the  imminent  peril  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
declaring  its  independence. 

Sefior  Deroux,  representative  for  a  Panama  constituency, 
recently  delivered  a  sensational  speech  in  the  House.  Among 
other  things  he  said: 

"In  Panama  the  bishops,  governors,  magistrates,  military 
chiefs,  and  their  subordinates  have  been  and  are  foreign  to  the 
department.  It  seems  that  the  Government,  with  surprising 
tenacity,  wishes  to  exclude  the  Isthmus  from  all  participation 
in  public  affairs.  As  regards  international  dangers  in  the 
Isthmus,  all  I  can  say  is  that  if  these  dangers  exist  they  are 
due  to  the  conduct  of  the  National  Government,  which  is  in 
the  direction  of  reaction. 


438  MESSAGES 

"  If  the  Colombian  Government  will  not  take  action  with  a 
view  to  preventing  disaster,  the  responsibility  will  rest  with 
it  alone." 

In  the  New  York  Herald  of  October  26th  it  was  re 
ported  that  a  revolutionary  expedition  of  about  seventy 
men  had  actually  landed  on  the  Isthmus.  In  the  Wash 
ington  Post  of  October  2Qth  it  was  reported  from  Panama 
that  in  view  of  the  impending  trouble  on  the  Isthmus  the 
Bogota  Government  had  gathered  troops  in  sufficient 
numbers  to  at  once  put  down  an  attempt  at  secession. 
In  the  New  York  Herald  of  October  3Oth  it  was  an 
nounced  from  Panama  that  Bogota  was  hurrying  troops 
to  the  Isthmus  to  put  down  the  projected  revolt.  In 
the  New  York  Herald  of  November  2d  it  was  announced 
that  in  Bogota  the  Congress  had  indorsed  the  energetic 
measures  taken  to  meet  the  situation  on  the  Isthmus  and 
that  six  thousand  men  were  about  to  be  sent  thither. 

Quotations  like  the  above  could  be  multiplied  indefi 
nitely.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  was  notorious  that  revo 
lutionary  trouble  of  a  serious  nature  was  impending  upon 
the  Isthmus.  But  it  was  not  necessary  to  rely  exclusively 
upon  such  general  means  of  information.  On  October 
1 5th  Commander  Hubbard,  of  the  Navy,  notified  the 
Navy  Department  that  though  things  were  quiet  on  the 
Isthmus  a  revolution  had  broken  out  in  the  State  of 
Cauca.  On  October  i6th,  at  the  request  of  Lieutenant- 
General  Young,  I  saw  Capt.  C.  B.  Humphrey  and  Lieut. 
Grayson  Mallet- Prevost  Murphy,  who  had  just  returned 
from  a  four  months'  tour  through  the  northern  portions 
of  Venezuela  and  Colombia.  They  stopped  in  Panama 
on  their  return  in  the  latter  part  of  September.  At  the 
time  they  were  sent  down  there  had  been  no  thought  of 
their  going  to  Panama,  and  their  visit  to  the  Isthmus  was 
but  an  unpremeditated  incident  of  their  return  journey; 
nor  had  they  been  spoken  to  by  any  one  at  Washington 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       439 

regarding  the  possibility  of  a  revolt.  Until  they  landed 
at  Colon  they  had  no  knowledge  that  a  revolution  was 
impending,  save  what  they  had  gained  from  the  news 
papers.  What  they  saw  in  Panama  so  impressed  them 
that  they  reported  thereon  to  Lieutenant-General  Young, 
according  to  his  memorandum — 

that  while  on  the  Isthmus  they  became  satisfied  beyond  ques 
tion  that,  owing  largely  to  the  dissatisfaction  because  of  the 
failure  of  Colombia  to  ratify  the  Hay-Herran  treaty,  a  revolu 
tionary  party  was  in  course  of  organization  having  for  its 
object  the  separation  of  the  State  of  Panama  from  Colombia, 
the  leader  being  Dr.  Richard  Arango,  a  former  governor  of 
Panama;  that  when  they  were  on  the  Isthmus  arms  and  am 
munition  were  being  smuggled  into  the  city  of  Colon  in  piano 
boxes,  merchandise  crates,  etc. ,  the  small  arms  received  being 
principally  the  Gras  French  rifle,  the  Remington,  and  the 
Mauser;  that  nearly  every  citizen  in  Panama  had  some  sort 
of  rifle  or  gun  in  his  possession,  with  ammunition  therefor; 
that  in  the  city  of  Panama  there  had  been  organized  a  fire 
brigade  which  was  really  intended  for  a  revolutionary  military 
organization;  that  there  were  representatives  of  the  revolution 
ary  organization  at  all  important  points  on  the  Isthmus;  that 
in  Panama,  Colon,  and  the  other  principal  places  of  the 
Isthmus  police  forces  had  been  organized  which  were  in  reality 
revolutionary  forces;  that  the  people  on  the  Isthmus  seemed 
to  be  unanimous  in  their  sentiment  against  the  Bogota  Gov 
ernment,  and  their  disgust  over  the  failure  of  that  Govern 
ment  to  ratify  the  treaty  providing  for  the  construction  of  the 
canal,  and  that  a  revolution  might  be  expected  immediately 
upon  the  adjournment  of  the  Colombian  Congress  without 
ratification  of  the  treaty. 

Lieutenant-General  Young  regarded  their  report  as  of 
such  importance  as  to  make  it  advisable  that  I  should 
personally  see  these  officers.  They  told  me  what  they 
had  already  reported  to  the  Lieutenant-General,  adding 


440  MESSAGES 

that  on  the  Isthmus  the  excitement  was  seething,  and 
that  the  Colombian  troops  were  reported  to  be  disaffected. 
In  response  to  a  question  of  mine  they  informed  me  that 
it  was  the  general  belief  that  the  revolution  might  break 
out  at  any  moment,  and  if  it  did  not  happen  before, 
would  doubtless  take  place  immediately  after  the  closing 
of  the  Colombian  Congress  (at  the  end  of  October)  if  the 
canal  treaty  were  not  ratified.  They  were  certain  that 
the  revolution  would  occur,  and  before  leaving  the 
Isthmus  had  made  their  own  reckoning  as  to  the  time, 
which  they  had  set  down  as  being  probably  from  three  to 
four  weeks  after  their  leaving.  The  reason  they  set  this 
as  the  probable  inside  limit  of  time  was  that  they  reck 
oned  that  it  would  be  at  least  three  or  four  weeks— say 
not  until  October  2Oth — before  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
arms  and  munitions  would  have  been  landed. 

In  view  of  all  these  facts  I  directed  the  Navy  Depart 
ment  to  issue  instructions  such  as  would  insure  our  having 
ships  within  easy  reach  of  the  Isthmus  in  the  event  of 
need  arising.  Orders  were  given  on  October  igth  to  the 
Boston  to  proceed  to  San  Juan  del  Sur,N  Nicaragua;  to 
the  Dixie  to  prepare  to  sail  from  League  Island ;  and  to 
the  Atlanta  to  proceed  to  Guantanamo.  On  October 
3<Dth  the  Nashville  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  Colon.  On 
November  2d  when,  the  Colombian  Congress  having  ad 
journed,  it  was  evident  that  the  outbreak  was  imminent, 
and  when  it  was  announced  that  both  sides  were  making 
ready  forces  whose  meeting  would  mean  bloodshed  and 
disorder,  the  Colombian  troops  having  been  embarked 
on  vessels,  the  following  instructions  were  sent  to  the 
commanders  of  the  Boston,  Nashville,  and  Dixie  : 

Maintain  free  and  uninterrupted  transit.  If  interruption 
is  threatened  by  armed  force,  occupy  the  line  of  railroad. 
Prevent  landing  of  any  armed  force  with  hostile  intent,  either 
Government  or  insurgent,  at  any  point  within  50  miles  of 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       441 

Panama.  Government  force  reported  approaching  the  Isthmus 
in  vessels.  Prevent  their  landing  if,  in  your  judgment,  the 
landing  would  precipitate  a  conflict. 

These  orders  were  delivered  in  pursuance  of  the  policy 
on  which  our  Government  had  repeatedly  acted.  This 
policy  was  exhibited  in  the  following  orders,  given  under 
somewhat  similar  circumstances  last  year,  and  the  year 
before,  and  the  year  before  that.  The  first  two  telegrams 
are  from  the  Department  of  State  to  the  consul  at  Panama : 

July  25,  1900. 

You  are  directed  to  protest  against  any  act  of  hostility 
which  may  involve  or  imperil  the  safe  and  peaceful  transit 
of  persons  or  property  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  The 
bombardment  of  Panama  would  have  this  effect,  and  the 
United  States  must  insist  upon  the  neutrality  of  the  Isthmus 
as  guaranteed  by  the  treaty. 

November  20,  1901. 

Notify  all  parties  molesting  or  interfering  with  free  transit 
across  the  Isthmus  that  such  interf  *rjnc-;  must  cease  and  that 
the  United  States  will  prevent  thj  interruption  of  traffic  upon 
the  railroad.  Consult  with  captain  of  the  Iowa,  who  will  be 
instructed  to  land  marines,  if  necessary,  for  the  protection  of 
the  railroad,  in  accordance  with  the  treaty  rights  and  obliga 
tions  of  the  United  States.  Desirable  to  avoid  bloodshed,  if 
possible. 

The  next  three  telegrams  are  from  and  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy : 

September  12,  1902. 
"  RANGER,"  Panama: 

United  States  guarantees  perfect  neutrality  of  Isthmus  and 
that  a  free  transit  from  sea  to  sea  be  not  interrupted  or  embar 
rassed.  .  .  .  Any  transportation  of  troops  which  might 
contravene  these  provisions  of  treaty  should  not  be  sanctioned 


442 


MESSAGES 


by  you  nor  should  use  of  road  be  permitted  which  might  con 
vert  the  line  of  transit  into  theatre  of  hostility. 

MOODY. 

COLON,  September  20,  1902. 
SECRETARY  NAVY,  Washington: 

Everything  is  conceded.  The  United  States  guards  and 
guarantees  traffic  and  the  line  of  transit.  To-day  I  permitted 
the  exchange  of  Colombia  troops  from  Panama  to  Colon, 
about  1000  men  each  way,  the  troops  without  arms  in  train 
guarded  by  American  naval  force  in  the  same  manner  as  other 
passengers;  arms  and  ammunition  in  separate  train,  guarded 
also  by  naval  force  in  the  same  manner  as  other  freight. 

MCLEAN. 

PANAMA,  October  3,  1902. 
SECRETARY  NAVY,  Washington,  D.  C. : 

Have  sent  this  communication  to  the  American  consul  at 
Panama : 

"  Inform  governor  while  trains  running  under  United  States 
protection  I  must  decline  transportation  any  combatants,  am 
munition,  arms,  which  might  cause  interruption  traffic  or  con 
vert  line  of  transit  into  theatre  hostilities." 

CASEY. 

On  November  3d  Commander  Hubbard  responded  to 
the  above-quoted  telegram  of  November  2,  1903,  saying 
that  before  the  telegram  had  been  received  four  hundred 
Colombian  troops  from  Cartagena  had  landed  at  Colon ; 
that  there  had  been  no  revolution  on  the  Isthmus,  but 
that  the  situation  was  most  critical  if  the  revolutionary 
leaders  should  act.  On  this  same  date  the  Associated 
Press  in  Washington  received  a  bulletin  stating  that  a 
revolutionary  outbreak  had  occurred.  When  this  was 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Assistant  Secretary  of 
State,  Mr.  Loomis,  he  prepared  the  following  cablegram 
to  the  consul-general  at  Panama  and  the  consul  at  Colon : 

Uprising  on  Isthmus  reported.  Keep  Department  promptly 
and  fully  informed. 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4.,  1904       443 

Before  this  telegram  was  sent,  however,  one  was  re 
ceived  from  Consul  Malmros  at  Colon,  running  as  follows: 

Revolution  imminent.  Government  force  on  the  Isthmus 
about  500  men.  Their  official  promised  support  revolution. 
Fire  department,  Panama,  441,  are  well  organized  and  favor 
revolution.  Government  vessel,  Cartagena,  with  about  400 
men,  arrived  early  to-day  with  new  commander  in  chief, 
Tobar.  Was  not  expected  until  November  10.  Tobar's 
arrival  is  not  probable  to  stop  revolution. 

This  cablegram  was  received  at  2.35  P.M.,  and  at  3.40 
P.M.  Mr.  Loomis  sent  the  telegram  which  he  had  already 
prepared  to  both  Panama  and  Colon.  Apparently,  how 
ever,  the  consul-general  at  Panama  had  not  received  the 
information  embodied  in  the  Associated  Press  bulletin, 
upon  which  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  based  his 
dispatch;  for  his  answer  was  that  there  was  no  uprising, 
although  the  situation  was  critical,  this  answer  being  re 
ceived  at  8.15  P.M.  Immediately  afterwards  he  sent 
another  dispatch,  which  was  received  at  9.50  P.M.,  saying 
that  the  uprising  had  occurred,  and  had  been  successful, 
with  no  bloodshed.  The  Colombian  gunboat  Bogota  next 
day  began  to  shell  the  city  of  Panama,  with  the  result  of 
killing  one  Chinaman.  The  consul-general  was  directed 
to  notify  her  to  stop  firing.  Meanwhile,  on  November 
4th,  Commander  Hubbard  notified  the  Department  that 
he  had  landed  a  force  to  protect  the  lives  and  property  of 
American  citizens  against  the  threats  of  the  Colombian 
soldiery. 

Before  any  step  whatever  had  been  taken  by  the  United 
States  troops  to  restore  order,  the  commander  of  the 
newly  landed  Colombian  troops  had  indulged  in  wanton 
and  violent  threats  against  American  citizens,  which 
created  serious  apprehension.  As  Commander  Hubbard 
reported  in  his  letter  November  5th,  this  officer  and  his 


MESSAGES 


troops  practically  began  war  against  the  United  States, 
and  only  the  forbearance  and  coolness  of  our  officers  and 
men  prevented  bloodshed.  The  letter  of  Commander 
Hubbard  is  of  such  interest  that  it  deserves  quotation  in 
full,  and  runs  as  follows: 


U.  S.  S.  "  NASHVILLE,"  THIRD  RATE, 

COLON,  U.  S.  COLOMBIA,  November  5,  1903. 

SIR:  Pending  a  complete  report  of  the  occurrences  of  the 
last  three  days  in  Colon,  Colombia,  I  most  respectfully  invite 
the  Department's  attention  to  those  of  the  date  of  Wednesday, 
November  4,  which  amounted  to  practically  the  making  of  war 
against  the  United  States  by  the  officer  in  command  of  the 
Colombian  troops  in  Colon.  At  i  o'clock  P.M.  on  that  date 
I  was  summoned  on  shore  by  a  preconcerted  signal,  and  on 
landing  met  the  United  States  consul,  vice-consul,  and  Colonel 
Shaler,  the  general  superintendent  of  the  Panama  Railroad. 
The  consul  informed  me  that  he  had  received  notice  from  the 
officer  commanding  the  Colombian  troops,  Colonel  Torres, 
through  the  prefect  of  Colon,  to  the  effect  that  if  the  Colom 
bian  officers,  Generals  Tobal  and  Amaya,  who  had  been  seized 
in  Panama  on  the  evening  of  the  $d  of  November  by  the  In 
dependents  and  held  as  prisoners,  were  not  released  by  2 
o'clock  P.M.,  he,  Torres,  would  open  fire  on  the  town  of 
Colon  and  kill  every  United  States  citizen  in  the  place,  and 
my  advice  and  action  were  requested.  I  advised  that  all  the 
United  States  citizens  should  take  refuge  in  the  shed  of  the 
Panama  Railroad  Company,  a  stone  building  susceptible  of 
being  put  into  good  state  for  defence,  and  that  I  would  imme 
diately  land  such  body  of  men,  with  extra  arms  for  arming  the 
citizens,  as  the  complement  of  the  ship  would  permit.  This 
was  agreed  to  and  I  immediately  returned  on  board,  arriving 
at  1.15  P.M.  The  order  for  landing  was  immediately  given, 
and  at  1.30  P.M.  the  boats  left  the  ship  with  a  party  of  42  men 
under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Commander  H.  M.  Witzel,  with 
Midshipman  J.  P.  Jackson  as  second  in  command.  Time 
being  pressing  I  gave  verbal  orders  to  Mr.  Witzel  to  take  the 


$8TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904.       445 

building  above  referred  to,  to  put  it  into  the  best  state  of  de 
fence  possible,  and  protect  the  lives  of  the  citizens  assembled 
there — not  firing  unless  fired  upon.  The  women  and  children 
took  refuge  on  the  German  steamer  Marcomania  and  Panama 
Railroad  steamer  City  of  Washington,  both  ready  to  haul  out 
from  dock  if  necessary.  The  Nashville  I  got  under  way  and 
patrolled  with  her  along  the  water  front  close  in  and  ready  to 
use  either  small-arm  or  shrapnel  fire  The  Colombians  sur 
rounded  the  building  of  the  railroad  company  almost  immedi 
ately  after  we  had  taken  possession,  and  for  about  one  and  a 
half  hours  their  attitude  was  most  threatening,  it  being  seem 
ingly  their  purpose  to  provoke  an  attack.  Happily  our  men 
were  cool  and  steady,  and  while  the  tension  was  very  great  no 
shot  was  fired.  At  about  3.15  P.M.  Colonel  Torres  came  into 
the  building  for  an  interview  and  expressed  himself  as  most 
friendly  to  Americans,  claiming  that  the  whole  affair  was  a 
misapprehension  and  that  he  would  like  to  send  the  alcalde  of 
Colon  to  Panama  to  see  General  Tobal  and  have  him  direct 
the  discontinuance  of  the  show  of  force.  A  special  train  was 
furnished  and  safe-conduct  guaranteed.  At  about  5.30  P.M. 
Colonel  Torres  made  the  proposition  of  withdrawing  his  troops 
to  Monkey  Hill,  if  I  would  withdraw  the  Nashville  s  force  and 
leave  the  town  in  possession  of  the  police  until  the  return  of 
the  alcalde  on  the  morning  of  the  5th.  After  an  interview 
with  the  United  States  consul  and  Colonel  Shaler  as  to  the 
probability  of  good  faith  in  the  matter,  I  decided  to  accept 
the  proposition  and  brought  my  men  on  board,  the  disparity 
in  numbers  between  my  force  and  that  of  the  Colombians, 
nearly  ten  to  one,  making  me  desirous  of  avoiding  a  conflict 
so  long  as  the  object  in  view,  the  protection  of  American 
citizens,  was  not  imperilled. 

I  am  positive  that  the  determined  attitude  of  our  men,  their 
coolness  and  evident  intention  of  standing  their  ground,  had 
a  most  salutary  and  decisive  effect  on  the  immediate  situation 
and  was  the  initial  step  in  the  ultimate  abandoning  of  Colon 
by  these  troops  and  their  return  to  Cartagena  the  following 
day.  Lieutenant-Commander  Witzel  is  entitled  to  much 
praise  for  his  admirable  work  in  command  on  the  spot. 


446  MESSAGES 

I  feel  that  I  cannot  sufficiently  strongly  represent  to  the 
Department  the  grossness  of  this  outrage  and  the  insult  to  our 
dignity,  even  apart  from  the  savagery  of  the  threat. 
Very  respectfully, 

JOHN  HUBBARD, 
Commander,  U.  S.  Navy, 

Commanding. 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY, 

Navy  Department,  Washington,  D.  C. 

In  his  letter  of  November  8th  Commander  Hubbard 
sets  forth  the  facts  more  in  detail : 

U.  S.  S.  "  NASHVILLE,"  THIRD  RATE, 
PORTO  BELLO,  U.  S.  COLOMBIA,  November  8,  1903. 

SIR:  i.  I  have  the  honor  to  make  the  following  report  of  the 
occurrences  which  took  place  at  Colon  and  Panama  in  the  in 
terval  between  the  arrival  of  the  Nashville  at  Colon  on  the 
evening  of  November  2,  1903,  and  the  evening  of  November 
5,  1903,  when  by  the  arrival  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Dixie  at  Colon  I 
was  relieved  as  senior  officer  by  Commander  F.  H.  Delano, 
U.  S.  Navy. 

2.  At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Nashville  at  Colon  at 
5.30  P.M.  on  November  2  everything  on  the  isthmus  was  quiet. 
There  was  talk  of  proclaiming  the  independence  of  Panama, 
but  no  definite  action  had  been  taken  and  there  had  been  no 
disturbance  of  peace  and  order.  At  daylight  on  the  morning 
of  November  3  it  was  found  that  a  vessel  which  had  come  in 
during  the  night  was  the  Colombian  gunboat  Cartagena  carry 
ing  between  400  and  500  troops.  I  had  her  boarded  and 
learned  that  these  troops  were  for  the  garrison  at  Panama. 
Inasmuch  as  the  Independent  party  had  not  acted  and  the 
Government  of  Colombia  was  at  the  time  in  undisputed  con 
trol  of  the  Province  of  Panama,  I  did  not  feel,  in  the  absence 
of  any  instructions,  that  I  was  justified  in  preventing  the 
landing  of  these  troops,  and  at  8.30  o'clock  they  were  disem 
barked.  The  commanding  officers,  Generals  Amaya  and 
Tobal,  with  four  others,  immediately  went  over  to  Panama  to 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904.       447 

make  arrangements  for  receiving  and  quartering  their  troops, 
leaving  the  command  in  charge  of  an  officer  whom  I  later 
learned  to  be  Colonel  Torres.  The  Department's  message 
addressed  to  the  care  of  the  United  States  consul  I  received 
at  10.30  A.M;  it  was  delivered  to  one  of  the  ship's  boats  while 
I  was  at  the  consul's  and  not  to  the  consul  as  addressed.  The 
message  was  said  to  have  been  received  at  the  cable  office  at 
9.30  A.M.  Immediately  on  deciphering  the  message  I  went 
on  shore  to  see  what  arrangements  the  railroad  company  had 
made  for  the  transportation  of  these  troops  to  Panama,  and 
learned  that  the  company  would  not  transport  them  except  on 
request  of  the  governor  of  Panama,  and  that  the  prefect  at 
Colon  and  the  officer  left  in  command  of  the  troops  had  been 
so  notified  by  the  general  superintendent  of  the  Panama  Rail 
road  Company.  I  remained  at  the  company's  office  until  it 
was  sure  that  no  action  on  my  part  would  be  needed  to  prevent 
the  transportation  of  the  troops  that  afternoon,  when  I  re 
turned  on  board  and  cabled  the  Department  the  situation  of 
affairs.  At  about  5.30  P.M.  I  again  went  on  shore,  and  re 
ceived  notice  from  the  general  superintendent  of  the  railroad 
that  he  had  received  the  request  for  the  transportation  of  the 
troops  and  that  they  would  leave  on  the  8  A.M.  train  on  the 
following  day.  I  immediately  went  to  see  the  general  super 
intendent,  and  learned  that  it  had  just  been  announced  that  a 
provisional  government  had  been  established  at  Panama — 
that  Generals  Amaya  and  Tobal,  the  governor  of  Panama,  and 
four  officers,  who  had  gone  to  Panama  in  the  morning,  had 
been  seized  and  were  held  as  prisoners;  that  they  had  an 
organized  force  of  1500  troops  and  wished  the  Government 
troops  in  Colon  to  be  sent  over.  This  I  declined  to  permit, 
and  verbally  prohibited  the  general  superintendent  from  giving 
transportation  to  the  troops  of  either  party. 

It  being  then  late  in  the  evening,  I  sent  early  in  the  morning 
of  November  4  written  notification  to  the  general  superinten 
dent  of  the  Panama  Railroad,  to  the  prefect  of  Colon,  and  to 
the  officer  left  in  command  of  the  Colombian  troops,  later 
ascertained  to  be  Colonel  Torres,  that  I  had  prohibited  the 
transportation  of  troops  in  either  direction,  in  order  to 


448  MESSAGES 

preserve  the  free  and  uninterrupted  transit  of  the  Isthmus. 
Copies  of  these  letters  are  hereto  appended;  also  copy  of  my 
notification  to  the  consul.  Except  to  a  few  people,  nothing 
was  known  in  Colon  of  the  proceedings  in  Panama  until  the 
arrival  of  the  train  at  10.45  on  tne  morning  of  the  4th.  Some 
propositions  were,  I  was  later  told,  made  to  Colonel  Torres 
by  the  representatives  of  the  new  Government  at  Colon,  with 
a  view  to  inducing  him  to  re-embark  in  the  Cartagena  and 
return  to  the  port  of  Cartagena,  and  it  was  in  answer  to  this 
proposition  that  Colonel  Torres  made  the  threat  and  took  the 
action  reported  in  my  letter  No.  96,  of  November  5,  1903. 
The  Cartagena  left  the  port  just  after  the  threat  was  made  and 
I  did  not  deem  it  expedient  to  attempt  to  detain  her,  as  such 
action  would  certainly,  in  the  then  state  of  affairs,  have  pre 
cipitated  a  conflict  on  shore  which  I  was  not  prepared  to  meet. 
It  is  my  understanding  that  she  returned  to  Cartagena.  After 
the  withdrawal  of  the  Colombian  troops  on  the  evening  of 
November  4,  and  the  return  of  the  Nashville's  force  on  board, 
as  reported  in  my  letter  No.  96,  there  was  no  disturbance  on 
shore,  and  the  night  passed  quietly.  On  the  morning  of  the 
5th  I  discovered  that  the  commander  of  the  Colombian  troops 
had  not  withdrawn  so  far  from  the  town  as  he  had  agreed,  but 
was  occupying  buildings  near  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  I  im 
mediately  inquired  into  the  matter  and  learned  that  he  had 
some  trivial  excuse  for  not  carrying  out  his  agreement,  and  also 
that  it  was  his  intention  to  occupy  Colon  again  on  the  arrival 
of  the  alcalde  due  at  10.45  A.M.,  unless  General  Tobal  sent 
word  by  the  alcalde  that  he,  Colonel  Torres,  should  withdraw. 
That  General  Tobal  had  declined  to  give  any  instructions  I 
was  cognizant  of,  and  the  situation  at  once  became  quite  as 
serious  as  on  the  day  previous.  I  immediately  landed  an 
armed  force,  reoccupied  the  same  building;  also  landed  two 
i -pounders  and  mounted  them  on  platform  cars  behind  pro 
tection  of  cotton  bales,  and  then  in  company  with  the  United 
States  consul  had  an  interview  with  Colonel  Torres,  in  the 
course  of  which  I  informed  him  that  I  had  relanded  my  men 
because  he  had  not  kept  his  agreement ;  that  I  had  no  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  either  party;  that  my  attitude  was  strictly 


S8TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904.       449 

neutral;  that  the  troops  of  neither  side  should  be  transported; 
that  my  sole  purpose  in  landing  was  to  protect  the  lives  and 
property  of  American  citizens  if  threatened,  as  they  had  been 
threatened,  and  to  maintain  the  free  and  uninterrupted  transit 
of  the  Isthmus,  and  that  purpose  I  should  maintain  by  force 
if  necessary.  I  also  strongly  advised  that  in  the  interests  of 
peace,  and  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  a  conflict  that  could 
not  but  be  regrettable,  he  should  carry  out  his  agreement  of 
the  previous  evening  and  withdraw  to  Monkey  Hill. 

Colonel  Torres' s  only  reply  was  that  it  was  unhealthy  at 
Monkey  Hill,  a  reiteration  of  his  love  of  Americans,  and  per 
sistence  in  his  intention  to  occupy  Colon,  should  General 
Tobal  not  give  him  directions  to  the  contrary. 

On  the  return  of  the  alcalde  at  about  n  A.M.  the  Colombian 
troops  marched  into  Colon,  but  did  not  assume  the  threatening 
demeanor  of  the  previous  day.  The  American  women  and 
children  again  went  on  board  the  Marcomania  and  City  of 
Washington,  and  through  the  British  vice-consul  I  offered  pro 
tection  to  British  subjects  as  directed  in  the  Department's 
cablegram.  A  copy  of  the  British  vice-consul's  acknowledg 
ment  is  hereto  appended.  The  Nashville  I  got  under  way  as 
on  the  previous  day  and  moved  close  in  to  protect  the  water 
front.  During  the  afternoon  several  propositions  were  made 
to  Colonel  Torres  by  the  representatives  of  the  new  Govern 
ment,  and  he  was  finally  persuaded  by  them  to  embark  on  the 
Royal  Mail  steamer  Orinoco  with  all  his  troops  and  return  to 
Cartagena.  The  Orinoco  left  her  dock  with  the  troops — 474  all 
told — at  7.35  P.M.  The  Dixie  arrived  and  anchored  at  7.05 
P.M.,  when  I  went  on  board  and  acquainted  the  commanding 
officer  with  the  situation.  A  portion  of  the  marine  battalion 
was  landed  and  the  Nashville's  force  withdrawn. 

3.  On  the  evening  of  November  4  Maj.  William  M.  Black 
and  Lieut.   Mark  Brooke,  Corps  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  Army, 
came  to  Colon  from  Culebra  and  volunteered  their  services, 
which  were  accepted,  and  they  rendered  very  efficient  help  on 
the  following  day. 

4.  I  beg  to  assure  the  Department  that  I  had  no  part  what 
ever  in  the  negotiations  that  were  carried  on  between  Colonel 


450 


MESSAGES 


Torres  and  the  representatives  of  the  provisional  government ; 
that  I  landed  an  armed  force  only  when  the  lives  of  American 
citizens  were  threatened,  and  withdrew  this  force  as  soon  as 
there  seemed  to  be  no  grounds  for  further  apprehension  of  in 
jury  to  American  lives  or  property;  that  I  relanded  an  armed 
force  because  of  the  failure  of  Colonel  Torres  to  carry  out  his 
agreement  to  withdraw  and  announced  intention  of  returning, 
and  that  my  attitude  throughout  was  strictly  neutral  as  be 
tween  the  two  parties,  my  only  purpose  being  to  protect  the 
lives  and  property  of  American  citizens  and  to  preserve  the 
free  and  uninterrupted  transit  of  the  Isthmus. 

Very  respectfully, 
(Signed)  JOHN  HUBBARD, 

Commander,  U.  S.  Navy, 

Commanding. 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY, 

Bureau  of  Navigation,  Navy 

Department,  Washington,  D.  C. 

This  plain  official  account  of  the  occurrences  of  Novem 
ber  4th  shows  that,  instead  of  there  having  been  too 
much  prevision  by  the  American  Government  for  the 
maintenance  of  order  and  the  protection  of  life  and  prop 
erty  on  the  Isthmus,  the  orders  for  the  movement  of  the 
American  warships  had  been  too  long  delayed ;  so  long, 
in  fact,  that  there  were  but  forty-two  marines  and  sailors 
available  to  land  and  protect  the  lives  of  American  men 
and  women.  It  was  only  the  coolness  and  gallantry 
with  which  this  little  band  of  men  wearing  the  American 
uniform  faced  ten  times  their  number  of  armed  foes,  bent 
on  carrying  out  the  atrocious  threat  of  the  Colombian 
commander,  that  prevented  a  murderous  catastrophe. 
At  Panama,  when  the  revolution  broke  out,  there  was 
no  American  man-of-war  and  no  American  troops  or 
sailors.  At  Colon,  Commander  Hubbard  acted  with 
entire  impartiality  towards  both  sides,  preventing  any 
movement,  whether  by  the  Colombians  or  the  Panamans, 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       451 

which  would  tend  to  produce  bloodshed.  On  November 
9th  he  prevented  a  body  of  the  revolutionists  from  land 
ing  at  Colon.  Throughout  he  behaved  in  the  most 
creditable  manner.  In  the  New  York  Evening  Post, 
under  date  of  Panama,  December  8th,  there  is  an  article 
from  a  special  correspondent,  which  sets  forth  in  detail 
the  unbearable  oppression  of  the  Colombian  Government 
in  Panama.  In  this  article  is  an  interesting  interview 
with  a  native  Panaman,  which  runs  in  part  as  follows : 

.  .  .  We  looked  upon  the  building  of  the  canal  as  a 
matter  of  life  or  death  to  us.  We  wanted  that  because  it 
meant,  whh^  the  United  States  in  control  of  it,  peace  and 
prosperity  for  us.  President  Marroquin  appointed  an  Isthmian 
to  be  governor  of  Panama;  and  we  looked  upon  that  as  of 
happy  augury.  Soon  we  heard  that  the  canal  treaty  was  not 
likely  to  be  approved  at  Bogota;  next  we  heard  that  our 
Isthmian  governor,  Obaldia,  who  had  scarcely  assumed  power, 
was  to  be  superseded  by  a  soldier  from  Bogota.  .  .  . 

Notwithstanding  all  that  Colombia  has  drained  us  of  in  the 
way  of  revenues,  she  did  not  bridge  for  us  a  single  river,  nor 
make  a  single  roadway,  nor  erect  a  single  college  where  our 
children  could  be  educated,  nor  do  anything  at  all  to  advance 
our  industries.  .  .  .  Well,  when  the  new  generals  came 
we  seized  them,  arrested  them,  and  the  town  of  Panama  was 
in  joy.  Not  a  protest  was  made,  except  the  shots  fired  from 
the  Colombian  gunboat  Bogota,  which  killed  one  Chinese  lying 
in  his  bed.  We  were  willing  to  encounter  the  Colombian 
troops  at  Colon  and  fight  it  out;  but  the  commander  of  the 
United  States  cruiser  Nashville  forbade  Superintendent  Shaler 
to  allow  the  railroad  to  transport  troops  for  either  party. 
That  is  our  story. 

I  call  especial  attention  to  the  concluding  portion  of 
this  interview  which  states  the  willingness  of  the  Panama 
people  to  fight  the  Colombian  troops  and  the  refusal  of 
Commander  Hubbard  to  permit  them  to  use  the  railroad 


452 


MESSAGES 


and  therefore  to  get  into  a  position  where  the  fight  could 
take  place.  It  thus  clearly  appears  that  the  fact  that 
there  was  no  bloodshed  on  the  Isthmus  was  directly  due 
—and  only  due — to  the  prompt  and  firm  enforcement  by 
the  United  States  of  its  traditional  policy.  During  the 
past  forty  years  revolutions  and  attempts  at  revolution 
have  succeeded  one  another  with  monotonous  regularity 
on  the  Isthmus,  and  again  and  again  United  States  sailors 
and  marines  have  been  landed  as  they  were  landed  in  this 
instance  and  under  similar  instructions  to  protect  the 
transit.  One  of  these  revolutions  resulted  in  three  years 
of  warfare ;  and  the  aggregate  of  bloodshed  and  misery 
caused  by  them  has  been  incalculable.  The  fact  that  in 
this  last  revolution  not  a  life  was  lost  save  that  of  the 
man  killed  by  the  shells  of  the  Colombian  gunboat,  and 
no  property  destroyed,  was  due  to  the  action  which  I 
have  described.  We,  in  effect,  policed  the  Isthmus  in 
the  interest  of  its  inhabitants  and  of  our  own  national 
needs,  and  for  the  good  of  the  entire  civilized  world. 
Failure  to  act  as  the  Administration  acted  would  have 
meant  great  waste  of  life,  great  suffering,  great  destruc 
tion  of  property ;  all  of  which  was  avoided  by  the  firm 
ness  and  prudence  with  which  Commander  Hubbard 
carried  out  his  orders  and  prevented  either  party  from 
attacking  the  other.  Our  action  was  for  the  peace  both 
of  Colombia  and  of  Panama.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped 
that  there  will  be  no  unwise  conduct  on  our  part  which 
may  encourage  Colombia  to  embark  on  a  war  which  can 
not  result  in  her  regaining  control  of  the  Isthmus,  but 
which  may  cause  much  bloodshed  and  suffering. 

I  hesitate  to  refer  to  the  injurious  insinuations  which 
have  been  made  of  complicity  by  this  Government  in  the 
revolutionary  movement  in  Panama.  They  are  as  desti 
tute  of  foundation  as  of  propriety.  The  only  excuse  for 
my  mentioning  them  is  the  fear  lest  unthinking  persons 
might  mistake  for  acquiescence  the  silence  of  mere  self- 


5&TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4.,  1904       453 

respect.  I  think  proper  to  say,  therefore,  that  no  one 
connected  with  this  Government  had  any  part  in  prepar 
ing,  inciting,  or  encouraging  the  late  revolution  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  that  save  from  the  reports  of  our 
military  and  naval  officers,  given  above,  no  one  connected 
with  this  Government  had  any  previous  knowledge  of  the 
revolution  except  such  as  was  accessible  to  any  person  of 
ordinary  intelligence  who  read  the  newspapers  and  kept 
up  a  current  acquaintance  with  public  affairs. 

By  the  unanimous  action  of  its  people,  without  the 
firing  of  a  shot — with  a  unanimity  hardly  before  recorded 
in  any  similar  case — the  people  of  Panama  declared  them 
selves  an  independent  Republic.  Their  recognition  by 
this  Government  was  based  upon  a  state  of  facts  in  no 
way  dependent  for  its  justification  upon  our  action  in 
ordinary  cases.  I  have  not  denied,  nor  do  I  wish  to 
deny,  either  the  validity  or  the  propriety  of  the  general 
rule  that  a  new  state  should  not  be  recognized  as  inde 
pendent  till  it  has  shown  its  ability  to  maintain  its  inde 
pendence.  This  rule  is  derived  from  the  principle  of 
non-intervention,  and  as  a  corollary  of  that  principle  has 
generally  been  observed  by  the  United  States.  But, 
like  the  principle  from  which  it  is  deduced,  the  rule  is 
subject  to  exceptions;  and  there  are  in  my  opinion  clear 
and  imperative  reasons  why  a  departure  from  it  was  justi 
fied  and  even  required  in  the  present  instance.  These 
reasons  embrace,  first,  our  treaty  rights;  second,  our 
national  interests  and  safety;  and,  third,  the  interests  of 
collective  civilization. 

I  have  already  adverted  to  the  treaty  of  1846,  by  the 
thirty-fifth  article  of  which  the  United  States  secured  the 
right  to  a  free  and  open  transit  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  and  to  that  end  agreed  to  guarantee  to  New 
Granada  her  rights  of  sovereignty  and  property  over  that 
territory.  This  article  is  sometimes  discussed  as  if  the 
latter  guaranty  constituted  its  sole  object  and  bound  the 


454 


MESSAGES 


United  States  to  protect  the  sovereignty  of  New  Granada 
against  domestic  revolution.  Nothing,  however,  could 
be  more  erroneous  than  this  supposition.  That  our  wise 
and  patriotic  ancestors,  with  all  their  dread  of  entangling 
alliances,  would  have  entered  into  a  treaty  with  New 
Granada  solely  or  even  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  en 
abling  that  remnant  of  the  original  Republic  of  Colombia, 
then  resolved  into  the  States  of  New  Granada,  Venezuela, 
and  Ecuador,  to  continue  from  Bogota  to  rule  over  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  is  a  conception  that  would  in  itself 
be  incredible,  even  if  the  contrary  did  not  clearly  appear. 
It  is  true  that  since  the  treaty  was  made  the  United  States 
has  again  and  again  been  obliged  forcibly  to  intervene  for 
the  preservation  of  order  and  the  maintenance  of  an  open 
transit,  and  that  this  intervention  has  usually  operated 
to  the  advantage  of  the  titular  Government  of  Colombia, 
but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  United  States  in  interven 
ing,  with  or  without  Colombia's  consent,  for  the  protec 
tion  of  the  transit,  has  disclaimed  any  duty  to  defend  the 
Colombian  Government  against  domestic  insurrection  or 
against  the  erection  of  an  independent  government  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama.  The  attacks  against  which  the 
United  States  engaged  to  protect  New  Granadian  sover 
eignty  were  those  of  foreign  powers;  but  this  engage 
ment  was  only  a  means  to  the  accomplishment  of  a  yet 
more  important  end.  The  great  design  of  the  article  was 
to  assure  the  dedication  of  the  Isthmus  to  the  purposes 
of  free  and  unobstructed  interoceanic  transit,  the  con 
summation  of  which  would  be  found  in  an  interoceanic 
canal.  To  the  accomplishment  of  this  object  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  had  for  years  directed  its  dip 
lomacy.  It  occupied  a  place  in  the  instructions  to  our 
delegates  to  the  Panama  Congress  during  the  Adminis 
tration  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  It  formed  the  subject  of 
a  resolution  of  the  Senate  in  1835,  and  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  1839.  In  1846  its  importance  had 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  i9o4       455 

become  still  more  apparent  by  reason  of  the  Mexican 
War.  If  the  treaty  of  1846  did  not  in  terms  bind  New 
Granada  to  grant  reasonable  concessions  for  the  construc 
tion  of  means  of  interoceanic  communication,  it  was  only 
because  it  was  not  imagined  that  such  concessions  would 
ever  be  withheld.  As  it  was  expressly  agreed  that  the 
United  States,  in  consideration  of  its  onerous  guaranty 
of  New  Granadian  sovereignty,  should  possess  the  right 
of  free  and  open  transit  on  any  modes  of  communication 
that  might  be  constructed,  the  obvious  intent  of  the 
treaty  rendered  it  unnecessary,  if  not  superfluous,  in 
terms  to  stipulate  that  permission  for  the  construction  of 
such  modes  of  communication  should  not  be  denied. 

Long  before  the  conclusion  of  the  Hay-Herran  treaty 
the  course  of  events  had  shown  that  a  canal  to  connect 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  must  be  built  by  the 
United  States  or  not  at  all.  Experience  had  demon 
strated  that  private  enterprise  was  utterly  inadequate  for 
the  purpose ;  and  a  fixed  policy,  declared  by  the  United 
States  on  many  memorable  occasions,  and  supported  by 
the  practically  unanimous  voice  of  American  opinion,  had 
rendered  it  morally  impossible  that  the  work  should  be 
undertaken  by  European  powers,  either  singly  or  in  com 
bination.  Such  were  the  universally  recognized  condi 
tions  on  which  the  legislation  of  the  Congress  was  based, 
and  on  which  the  late  negotiations  with  Colombia  were 
begun  and  concluded.  Nevertheless,  when  the  well- 
considered  agreement  was  rejected  by  Colombia  and  the 
revolution  on  the  Isthmus  ensued,  one  of  Colombia's 
first  acts  was  to  invoke  the  intervention  of  the  United 
States ;  nor  does  her  invitation  appear  to  have  been  con 
fined  to  this  Government  alone.  By  a  telegram  from 
Mr.  Beaupr£,  our  Minister  at  Bogota,  of  the  /th  of  No 
vember  last,  we  were  informed  that  General  Reyes  would 
soon  leave  Panama  invested  with  full  powers;  that  he 
had  telegraphed  the  President  of  Mexico  to  ask  the 


456  MESSAGES 

Government  of  the  United  States  and  all  countries  repre 
sented  at  the  Pan-American  Conference  "to  aid  Colombia 
to  preserve  her  integrity";  and  that  he  had  requested 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  should  mean 
while  ' '  preserve  the  neutrality  and  transit  of  the  Isthmus" 
and  should  "not  recognize  the  new  Government."  In 
another  telegram  from  Mr.  Beaupre",  which  was  sent  later 
in  the  day,  this  Government  was  asked  whether  it  would 
take  action  "to  maintain  Colombian  right  and  sovereignty 
on  the  Isthmus  in  accordance  with  article  35  [of]  the 
treaty  of  1846"  in  case  the  Colombian  Government  should 
be  "entirely  unable  to  suppress  the  secession  movement 
there."  Here  was  a  direct  solicitation  to  the  United 
States  to  intervene  for  the  purpose  of  suppression,  con 
trary  to  the  treaty  of  1846  as  this  Government  has  uni 
formly  construed  it,  a  new  revolt  against  Colombia's 
authority  brought  about  by  her  own  refusal  to  permit 
the  fulfilment  of  the  great  design  for  which  that  treaty 
was  made.  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the 
United  States,  instead  of  using  its  forces  to  destroy  those 
who  sought  to  make  the  engagements  of  the  treaty  a 
reality,  recognized  them  as  the  proper  custodians  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Isthmus. 

This  recognition  was,  in  the  second  place,  further  justi 
fied  by  the  highest  considerations  of  our  national  interests 
and  safety.  In  all  the  range  of  our  international  rela 
tions,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  there  is  nothing  of 
greater  or  more  pressing  importance  than  the  construc 
tion  of  an  interoceanic  canal.  Long  acknowledged  to  be 
essential  to  our  commercial  development,  it  has  become, 
as  the  result  of  the  recent  extension  of  our  territorial 
dominion,  more  than  ever  essential  to  our  national  self- 
defence.  In  transmitting  to  the  Senate  the  treaty  of 
1846,  President  Polk  pointed  out  as  the  principal  reason 
for  its  ratification  that  the  passage  of  the  Isthmus,  which 
it  was  designed  to  secure,  "would  relieve  us  from  a  long 


S8TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       457 

and  dangerous  navigation  of  more  than  nine  thousand 
miles  around  Cape  Horn,  and  render  our  communication 
with  our  own  possessions  on  the  northwest  coast  of 
America  comparatively  easy  and  speedy."  The  events 
of  the  past  five  years  have  given  to  this  consideration 
an  importance  immeasurably  greater  than  it  possessed  in 
1846.  In  the  light  of  our  present  situation,  the  estab 
lishment  of  easy  and  speedy  commu'nication  by  sea  be 
tween  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  presents  itself  not 
simply  as  something  to  be  desired,  but  as  an  object 
to  be  positively  and  promptly  attained.  Reasons  of 
convenience  have  been  superseded  by  reasons  of  vital 
necessity,  which  do  not  admit  of  indefinite  delays. 

To  such  delays  the  rejection  by  Colombia  of  the  Hay- 
Herran  treaty  directly  exposed  us.  As  proof  of  this  fact 
I  need  only  refer  to  the  programme  outlined  in  the  report 
of  the  majority  of  the  Panama  Canal  Committee,  read  in 
the  Colombian  Senate  on  the  14th  of  October  last.  In 
this  report,  which  recommended  that  the  discussion  of  a 
law  to  authorize  the  Government  to  enter  upon  new  nego 
tiations  should  be  indefinitely  postponed,  it  is  proposed 
that  the  consideration  of  the  subject  should  be  deferred 
till  October  31,  1904,  when  the  next  Colombian  Congress 
should  have  met  in  ordinary  session.  By  that  time,  as 
the  report  goes  on  to  say,  the  extension  of  time  granted 
to  the  New  Panama  Canal  Company  by  treaty  in  1893 
would  have  expired,  and  the  new  Congress  would  be  in 
a  position  to  take  up  the  question  whether  the  company 
had  not,  in  spite  of  further  extensions  that  had  been 
granted  by  legislative  acts,  forfeited  all  its  property  and 
rights.  "When  that  time  arrives,"  the  report  signifi 
cantly  declares,  "the  Republic,  without  any  impediment, 
will  be  able  to  contract,  and  will  be  in  more  clear,  more 
definite,  and  more  advantageous  possession,  both  legally 
and  materially."  The  naked  meaning  of  this  report  is 
that  Colombia  proposed  to  wait  until,  by  the  enforce- 


458  MESSAGES 

merit  of  a  forfeiture  repugnant  to  the  ideas  of  justice 
which  obtain  in  every  civilized  nation,  the  property  and 
rights  of  the  New  Panama  Canal  Company  could  be 
confiscated. 

Such  is  the  scheme  to  which  it  was  proposed  that  the 
United  States  should  be  invited  to  become  a  party.  The 
construction  of  the  canal  was  to  be  relegated  to  the  in 
definite  future,  while  Colombia  was,  by  reason  of  her  own 
delay,  to  be  placed  in  the  "more  advantageous"  position 
of  claiming  not  merely  the  compensation  to  be  paid  by 
the  United  States  for  the  privilege  of  completing  the 
canal,  but  also  the  forty  millions  authorized  by  the  act 
of  1902  to  be  paid  for  the  property  of  the  New  Panama 
Canal  Company.  That  the  attempt  to  carry  out  this 
scheme  would  have  brought  Colombia  into  conflict  with 
the  Government  of  France  cannot  be  doubted ;  nor  could 
the  United  States  have  counted  upon  immunity  from  the 
consequences  of  the  attempt,  even  apart  from  the  indefi 
nite  delays  to  which  the  construction  of  the  canal  was 
to  be  subjected.  On  the  first  appearance  of  danger  to 
Colombia,  this  Government  would  have  been  summoned 
to  interpose,  in  order  to  give  effect  to  the  guaranties  of 
the  treaty  of  1846;  and  all  this  in  support  of  a  plan 
which,  while  characterized  in  its  first  stage  by  the  wanton 
disregard  of  our  own  highest  interests,  was  fitly  to  end  in 
further  injury  to  the  citizens  of  a  friendly  nation,  whose 
enormous  losses  in  their  generous  efforts  to  pierce  the 
Isthmus  have  become  a  matter  of  history. 

In  the  third  place,  I  confidently  maintain  that  the 
recognition  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  was  an  act  justi 
fied  by  the  interests  of  collective  civilization.  If  ever  a 
Government  could  be  said  to  have  received  a  mandate 
from  civilization  to  effect  an  object  the  accomplishment 
of  which  was  demanded  in  the  interest  of  mankind,  the 
United  States  holds  that  position  with  regard  to  the  in- 
teroceanic  canal.  Since  our  purpose  to  build  the  canal 


5&TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       459 

was  definitely  announced,  there  have  come  from  all 
quarters  assurances  of  approval  and  encouragement,  in 
which  even  Colombia  herself  at  one  time  participated; 
and  to  general  assurances  were  added  specific  acts  and 
declarations.  In  order  that  no  obstacle  might  stand  in 
our  way,  Great  Britain  renounced  important  rights  under 
the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  and  agreed  to  its  abrogation, 
receiving  in  return  nothing  but  our  honorable  pledge  to 
build  the  canal  and  protect  it  as  an  open  highway.  It 
was  in  view  of  this  pledge,  and  of  the  proposed  enactment 
by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  legislation  to 
give  it  immediate  effect,  that  the  second  Pan-American 
Conference,  at  the  City  of  Mexico,  on  January  22,  1902, 
adopted  the  following  resolution : 

The  Republics  assembled  at  the  International  Conference 
of  Mexico  applaud  the  purpose  of  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  to  construct  an  interoceanic  canal,  and  acknowledge  that 
this  work  will  not  only  be  worthy  of  the  greatness  of  the 
American  people,  but  also  in  the  highest  sense  a  work  of  civil 
ization,  and  to  the  greatest  degree  beneficial  to  the  develop 
ment  of  commerce  between  the  American  States  and  the  other 
countries  of  the  world. 

Among  those  who  signed  this  resolution  on  behalf  of 
their  respective  Governments  was  General  Reyes,  the 
delegate  of  Colombia.  Little  could  it  have  been  foreseen 
that  two  years  later  the  Colombian  Government,  led  astray 
by  false  allurements  of  selfish  advantage,  and  forgetful 
alike  of  its  international  obligations  and  of  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  sovereignty,  would  thwart  the  efforts 
of  the  United  States  to  enter  upon  and  complete  a  work 
which  the  nations  of  America,  re-echoing  the  sentiment 
of  the  nations  of  Europe,  had  pronounced  to  be  not  only 
"worthy  of  the  greatness  of  the  American  people,"  but 
also  "in  the  highest  sense  a  work  of  civilization." 

That  our  position  as  the  mandatary  of  civilization  has 


460  MESSAGES 

been  by  no  means  misconceived  is  shown  by  the  prompti 
tude  with  which  the  powers  have,  one  after  another,  fol 
lowed  our  lead  in  recognizing  Panama  as  an  independent 
State.  Our  action  in  recognizing  the  new  Republic  has 
been  followed  by  like  recognition  on  the  part  of  France, 
Germany,  Denmark,  Russia,  Sweden  and  Norway,  Nica 
ragua,  Peru,  China,  Cuba,  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Costa 
Rica,  Japan,  and  Austria-Hungary. 

In  view  of  the  manifold  considerations  of  treaty  right 
and  obligation,  of  national  interest  and  safety,  and  of 
collective  civilization,  by  which  our  Government  was 
constrained  to  act,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  atti 
tude  of  those  who  can  discern  in  the  recognition  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama  only  a  general  approval  of  the  prin 
ciple  of  "revolution"  by  which  a  given  government  is 
overturned  or  one  portion  of  a  country  separated  from 
another.  Only  the  amplest  justification  can  warrant  a 
revolutionary  movement  of  either  kind.  But  there  is  no 
fixed  rule  which  can  be  applied  to  all  such  movements. 
Each  case  must  be  judged  on  its  own  merits.  There 
have  been  many  revolutionary  movements,  many  move 
ments  for  the  dismemberment  of  countries,  which  were 
evil,  tried  by  any  standard.  But  in  my  opinion  no  dis 
interested  and  fair-minded  observer  acquainted  with  the 
circumstances  can  fail  to  feel  that  Panama  had  the  amplest 
justification  for  separation  from  Colombia  under  the  con 
ditions  existing,  and,  moreover,  that  its  action  was  in  the 
highest  degree  beneficial  to  the  interests  of  the  entire 
civilized  world  by  securing  the  immediate  opportunity  for 
the  building  of  the  interoceanic  canal.  It  would  be  well 
for  those  who  are  pessimistic  as  to  our  action  in  peacefully 
recognizing  the  Republic  of  Panama,  while  we  lawfully 
protected  the  transit  from  invasion  and  disturbance,  to 
recall  what  has  been  done  in  Cuba,  where  we  intervened 
even  by  force  on  general  grounds  of  national  interest  and 
duty.  When  we  interfered  it  was  freely  prophesied  that 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  1904       461 

we  intended  to  keep  Cuba  and  administer  it  for  our  own 
interests.  The  result  has  demonstrated  in  singularly 
conclusive  fashion  the  falsity  of  these  prophecies.  Cuba 
is  now  an  independent  Republic.  We  governed  it  in  its 
own  interests  for  a  few  years,  till  it  was  able  to  stand 
alone,  and  then  started  it  upon  its  career  of  self-govern 
ment  and  independence,  granting  it  all  necessary  aid. 
We  have  received  from  Cuba  a  grant  of  two  naval  sta 
tions,  so  situated  that  they  in  no  possible  way  menace 
the  liberty  of  the  island,  and  yet  serve  as  important 
defences  for  the  Cuban  people,  as  well  as  for  our  own 
people,  against  possible  foreign  attack.  The  people  of 
Cuba  have  been  immeasurably  benefited  by  our  interfer 
ence  in  their  behalf,  and  our  own  gain  has  been  great. 
So  will  it  be  with  Panama.  The  people  of  the  Isthmus, 
and  as  I  firmly  believe  of  the  adjacent  parts  of  Central 
and  South  America,  will  be  greatly  benefited  by  the 
building  of  the  canal  and  the  guaranty  of  peace  and 
order  along  its  line;  and  hand  in  hand  with  the  benefit  to 
them  will  go  the  benefit  to  us  and  to  mankind.  By  our 
prompt  and  decisive  action,  not  only  have  our  interests 
and  those  of  the  world  at  large  been  conserved,  but  we 
have  forestalled  complications  which  were  likely  to  be 
fruitful  in  loss  to  ourselves,  and  in  bloodshed  and  suffer 
ing  to  the  people  of  the  Isthmus. 

Instead  of  using  our  forces,  as  we  were  invited  by 
Colombia  to  do,  for  the  twofold  purpose  of  defeating  our 
own  rights  and  interests  and  the  interests  of  the  civilized 
world,  and  of  compelling  the  submission  of  the  people  of 
the  Isthmus  to  those  whom  they  regarded  as  oppressors, 
we  shall,  as  in  duty  bound,  keep  the  transit  open  and 
prevent  its  invasion.  Meanwhile,  the  only  question  now 
before  us  is  that  of  the  ratification  of  the  treaty.  For  it 
is  to  be  remembered  that  a  failure_toj^f^h^jtr^ajt^_will 
not  undo  what  has  beejijtoie,  will.  not  restore  Panama  to 
Colombia,  and  will  not  alter  our  obligation  to  keep  the 


462  MESSAGES 

transit  open  across  the  Isthmus,  and  to  prevent  any  out 
side  power  from  menacing  this  transit. 

It  seems  to  have  been  assumed  in  certain  quarters  that 
the  proposition  that  the  obligations  of  article  35  of  the 
treaty  of  1846  are  to  be  considered  as  adhering  to  and 
following  the  sovereignty  of  the  Isthmus,  so  long  as  that 
sovereignty  is  not  absorbed  by  the  United  States,  rests 
upon  some  novel  theory.  No  assumption  could  be 
further  from  the  fact.  It  is  by  no  means  true  that  a  state 
in  declaring  its  independence  rids  itself  of  all  the  treaty 
obligations  entered  into  by  the  parent  government.  It 
is  a  mere  coincidence  that  this  question  was  once  raised 
in  a  case  involving  the  obligations  of  Colombia  as  an  in 
dependent  state  under  a  treaty  which  Spain  had  made 
with  the  United  States  many  years  before  Spanish-Ameri 
can  independence.  In  that  case  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams, 
Secretary  of  State,  in  an  instruction  to  Mr.  Anderson, 
our  Minister  to  Colombia,  of  May  27,  1823,  said: 

By  a  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  concluded 
at  a  time  when  Colombia  was  a  part  of  the  Spanish  dominions 
the  principle  that  free  ships  make  free  goods  was  ex 
pressly  recognized  and  established.  It  is  asserted  that  by  her 
declaration  of  independence  Colombia  has  been  entirely  re 
leased  from  all  the  obligations  by  which,  as  a  part  of  the 
Spanish  nation,  she  was  bound  to  other  nations.  This  prin 
ciple  is  not  tenable.  To  all  the  engagements  of  Spain  with 
other  nations,  affecting  their  rights  and  interests,  Colombia, 
so  far  as  she  was  affected  by  them,  remains  bound  in  honor 
and  in  justice.  The  stipulation  now  referred  to  is  of  that 
character. 

The  principle  thus  asserted  by  Mr.  Adams  was  after 
wards  sustained  by  an  international  commission  m  respect 
to  the  precise  stipulation  to  which  he  referred ;  and  a 
similar  position  was  taken  by  the  United  States  with 
regard  to  the  binding  obligation  upon  the  independent 


58TH  CONGRESS,  JANUARY  4,  i9o4       463 

State  of  Texas  of  commercial  stipulations  embodied  in 
prior  treaties  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico 
when  Texas  formed  a  part  of  the  latter  country.  But  in 
the  present  case  it  is  unnecessary  to  go  so  far.  Even  if 
it  be  admitted  that  prior  treaties  of  a  political  and  com 
mercial  complexion  generally  do  not  bind  a  new  state 
formed  by  separation,  it  is  undeniable  that  stipulations 
having  a  local  application  to  the  territory  embraced  in 
the  new  state  continue  in  force  and  are  binding  upon  the 
new  sovereign.  Thus  it  is  on  all  hands  conceded  that 
treaties  relating  to  boundaries  and  to  rights  of  navigation 
continue  in  force  without  regard  to  changes  in  govern 
ment  or  in  sovereignty.  This  principle  obviously  applies 
to  that  part  of  the  treaty  of  1846  which  relates  to  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama. 

In  conclusion  let  me  repeat  that  the  question  actually 
before  this  Government  is  not  that  of  the  recognition  of 
Panama  as  an  independent  Republic.  That  is  already  an 
accomplished  fact.  The  question,  and  the  only  question, 
is  whether  or  not  we  shall  build  an  isthmian  canal. 

I  transmit  herewith  copies  of  the  latest  notes  from  the 
Minister  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  to  this  Government, 
and  of  certain  notes  which  have  passed  between  the 
Special  Envoy  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia  and  this 
Government. 
WHITE  HOUSE,  January  4,  1904. 


INDEX 


Adams,  John  Quincy,   454;  in 
struction    of,    to    Minister   to 
Colombia,  quoted,  462 
Admiral  of  the  Navy,  365 
Adversity  shared  by  all,  166 
Advocacy  of  the  impossible,  in 
sincere,  is  dangerous,  66 
Agriculture,  Department  of,  33, 
147,    221;   good  accomplished 
by,  33 ;  work  of,  148,  149,  307, 

373 

Aguinaldo,  insurrection  of,  in 
1896,  159 

Alaska,  legislation  recom 
mended,  370,  371;  value  of, 
371;  should  have  a  delegate  in 
Congress,  371;  necessity  for 
practical  demarcation  of 
boundaries,  392;  treaty  with 
Russia,  392;  modus  vivendi 
with  Great  Britain,  393  ;  Joint 
High  Commission,  393;  treaty 
of  1903  with  Great  Britain, 
393;  Boundary  Tribunal,  393; 
advantages  of  boundary 
award,  394;  has  an  assured 
future,  402 ;  sources  of  wrealth, 
402;  compared  with  Norway 
and  Sweden,  and  Finland, 
402;  recommendations  con 
cerning,  402  ;  report  on  salmon 
fisheries,  403 

"All  men  up"  rather  than 
"Some  men  down,"  270 

Alverstone,  Lord,  393 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 
interview  with  Executiye 
Council  of,  275,  276 

American  spirit,  found  most 
surely  in  country  districts,  32 ; 
should  be  first,  party  spirit 
second,  76 

30  465 


Americans  desire  to  help,  not 
hinder,  weaker  powers,  83 ; 
desire  only  honorable  rivalry 
with  great  powers,  83 

Anarchist,  definition  of,  285; 
merely  one  type  of  criminal, 
288;  concern  of,  for  working 
men  outrageous  in  its  impu 
dent  falsity,  289;  deadly  foe  of 
liberty,  289;  a  malefactor  and 
nothing  else,  289  ;  all  man 
kind  should  band  against, 
290 

Anarchyymob  violence  one  form 
of,  277;  the  handmaiden  and 
forerunner  of  tyranny,  277: 
discussed,  285-291;  legisla 
tion  recommended,  289,  290; 
no  more  an  expression  of 
"social  discontent"  than 
picking  pockets  or  wife-beat 
ing,  288;  the  advocate  of,  or 
apologist  for,  an  accessory  to 
murder  before  the  fact,  289; 
a  crime  against  the  whole  hu 
man  race,  290;  should  be 
made  an  offence  against  law 
of  nations,  290 

Annapolis  Naval  Academy,  29, 
205;  origin  of  students,  29; 
title  of  midshipman  should  be 
restored,  326 

Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Commis 
sion,  1 5  2  ;  report  of ,  152,  165; 
work  of,  teaches  sound  social 
morality,  152,  165;  personnel 
of,  152,  165;  appointment  and 
action  of,  of  vast  benefit  to 
Nation,  152;  quotation  from 
report  of,  274,  275 

Antietam,  Md.,  speech  at,  Sep 
tember  17,  1903,  245;  battle 
of,  245 ;  importance  of  battle 
of,  246 


466 


INDEX 


Anti-trust  laws  will  be  enforced, 
1 8,  26;  appropriation  for  en 
forcement  of,  389 

Appointments,  Federal,  in  the 
South,  266-273;  negro,  266- 
273;  character,  fitness,  and 
ability  the  prime  tests,  270 

Arbitration  between  capital  and 
labor,  152 

Arbitration,  international,  ad 
vocated,  358-359;  discussed, 
396-390;  The  Hague  Court  a 
triumph  of  principle  of,  396; 
quotation  from  William  Mc- 
Kinley,  397;  exemption  of 
private  property  at  sea  from 
capture  or  destruction  by 
belligerents,  397,  398;  quota 
tion  from  United  States  Su 
preme  Court,  397;  Interpar 
liamentary  Union  for,  398 

Army,  the,  155,  253;  work  in 
Philippines  amid  storm  of  de 
traction,  156;  beneficent  re 
sults  of  work  in  Philippines, 
156,  159,  363;  reduction  of,  in 
Philippines,  157,  363;  legisla 
tion  affecting,  160;  militia 
bill,  1 60;  reduction  of,  160, 
364;  bill  creating  General 
Staff,  1 60;  must  have  proper 
training,  organization,  and  ad 
ministration,  161;  regular, 
need  not  be  large,  161,  329; 
importance  and  benefit  of 
General-Staff  law,  161,  411; 
American  regular  not  inferior 
to  any  other  regular  soldier, 
1 6 1 ;  party  lines  should  not  be 
considered  in  dealing  with, 
161 ;  increase  not  necessary  at 
present,  329;  must  be  kept  at 
highest  point  of  efficiency, 
329,  364;  American  cavalry 
man  best  soldier  for  general 
purposes,  329;  General  Staff 
should  be  created,  329,  364; 
suggestions  for  improvement 
of,  320-333;  Congress  should 

Erovide  for  manoeuvres  on 
irge  scale,  331,  364;  benefits 
of  act  reorganizing,  332;  sug 
gestions  for  improvement  of 
National  Guard,  332-333,  365, 
411;  a  great  constructive 
force  in  Philippines,  Cuba, 


and  Porto  Rico,  333;  reorgan 
ization  of  supply  departments 
recommended,  364;  import 
ance  of  securing  efficiency  of 
National  Guard,  365;  care  of 
worn-out  horses,  365 ;  gradual 
improvement  in  efficiency, 
411;  good  effect  of  manoeuvres 
on  National  Guard,  411;  per 
manent  camp  sites  for  man 
oeuvres,  411;  system  of  pro 
motions  discussed,  411;  Mili 
tary  Academy,  411 

Arnold,  F.  W.,  52 

Arthur,  Chester  A.,  29 

Attorney-General.  See  Knox, 
P.  C. 

Austria- Hungary,  recognition  of 
Republic  of  Panama,  460 

Aycock,  Charles  B.,  10 

Aylesworth,  A.  B.,  393 


B 


Bangor,  Me.,  speech  at,  August 

27,  1902,  32 
Banks,  the  natural  servants  of 

commerce,  354 
Bayard,  Thomas  F.,  423 
Beaupre,  Arthur  M.,  419 
Beirut,  report  of  assassination  of 

vice-consul,  399 
Belford,  Rev.  John  L.,  228 
Belgium,  395,  396 
Berkeley,  Cal.,  speech  at,  May 

14,  1903,  199 
Big     Basin,      Redwood     Park, 

195 

Elaine,  James  G.,  358 
Boston,    Mass.,    23;    speech    at 

Symphony  Hall,   August   25, 

1902,  19 

Boynton,  Gen.  H.  V.,  59 
Bribery,    more   effective   extra 
dition    treaties    needed,  390- 
391;  treaty  with  Mexico,  391; 
no  crime  more  serious  than, 

391 

Bngandage  in  Philippines,  158 
Brotherhood      of      Locomotive 

Firemen,    52;    statistics,     54, 

Butte,  Mont.,  speech  at,  May  27, 

1903,  213 
Byzantium,  167 


INDEX 


467 


Cable,  to  Hawaii,  Philippines, 
and  Asia,  necessity  for,  319, 
360-362;  connection  with 
China,  361 

California,  importance  to,  of  ir 
rigation,  196 

California  Club,  195 

California,  University  of,  speech 
at,  May  14,  1903,  199 

Canton,  Ohio,  speech  at  banquet 
in  honor  of  birthday  of  Wil 
liam  McKinley,  January  27, 
1903,  100 

Capital  and  labor,  employer  and 
employe  should  show  regard 
for  rights  of  each  other  and  of 
the  public,  84,  166;  combina 
tions  of,  necessary,  150,  355; 
better  understanding  should 
be  secured  between  employer 
and  employee,  151;  arbitration 
between,  152;  problems  of, 
l65>  355-357;  interests  of, 
should  be  harmonized  with 
those  of  general  public,  356; 
should  avoid  hostility  and 
distrust  toward  each  other, 
356;  fair  treatment  for,  to  be 
secured  by  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor,  383; 
importance  of  combinations, 
383 ;  policy  of  National  Gov 
ernment  regarding  combina 
tions,  384.  See  Combinations 
of  labor  and  capital. 

Capitalist,  and  wage  worker 
should  look  at  differences 
from  each  other's  standpoint, 
1 66;  should  welcome  every 
effort  to  secure  fair  dealing  by 
capital  toward  others,  239 

Capron,  Capt.  Allyn,  59 

Captains  of  industry  a  necessary 
factor  in  our  civilization,  1 5, 63 

Car  couplings,  laws  in  reference 
to,  153  ^ 

Carson  City,  Nev.,  speech  at, 
May  19,  1903,  206 

Cartwright,  Peter,  in 

Cass,  Lewis,  415,  428 

Cattle    diseases   in    Philippines, 

i58 

Census  Office  should  be  made 
permanent,  340 


Chamber  of  Commerce  of  State 
of  New  York,  speech  at  ban 
quet  of,  November  n,  1902, 
82 

Chambliss,  Alexander,  52 

Character,  development  more  by 
practice  than  by  precept,  90; 
of  individual,  chief  factor  in 
winning  success,  164 

Charity,  Biblical  meaning  of, 
182 

Charleston,  S.  C.,  speech  at  Ex 
position,  April  9,  1902,  3;  a 
historic  city,  3;  encourage 
ment  of  exposition  recom 
mended,  338 

Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  speech  to 
Brotherhood  of  Locomotive 
Firemen,  September  8,  1902, 
52;  lessons  taught  by  battle 
fields,  58,  59 

Chicago,  111.,  speech  at,  April  2, 


Chickamauga  battle-field,  59-60 

China,  interest  of  the  United 
States  in,  342;  has  accepted 
terms  of  settlement  with  in 
jured  powers,  342;  treaties  of 
commerce  and  navigation 
with,  343  ;  United  States  advo 
cates  "open  door,"  344;  cable 
connection  with,  361;  new 
commercial  treaty  with,  399; 
ports  opened  in  Manchuria, 
400;  recognition  of  Republic 
of  Panama,  460 

Chinese  Exclusion  Act  should  be 
re-enacted,  299 

Christianity  should  be  moving 
spirit  of  strong  men  as  well  as 
weak,  229 

Churches  should  be  helpful  'to 
immigrants,  226 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  speech  at, 
September  20,  1902,  61;  quo 
tation  from  speech  at,  130 

Cities  should  not  be  built  up  at 
expense  of  country  districts, 
169 

Citizens,  qualities  needed  in,  12; 
must  devote  much  thought 
and  time  to  affairs  of  the  State, 
20;  all  must  be  subject  to  the 
law,  64;  American,  each  should 
be  able  and  willing  to  do  his 
share  in  the  work  of  his  gen- 


468 


INDEX 


Citizens, — Continued 

eration,  85;  American,  quali 
ties  of,  93 ;  quality  of,  more 
important  than  the  law,  164; 
qualities  necessary  to  national 
greatness,  182,  243;  good, 
must  be  good  men,  228;  must 
be  clean  of  mouth,  228;  aver 
age  citizen  is  a  sane  and 
healthy  man,  237;  good,  de 
finition  of,  238 

Citizenship,  good,  requisites  of, 
20,  34;  line  of  cleavage  be 
tween  good  and  bad,  36,  37, 
212,  215,  234,  237;  high  aver 
age  of,  is  prime  factor  in  se 
curing  prosperity,  75;  Amer 
ican,  high  average  of,  142; 
most  important  production  of 
any  institution  of  learning, 
189;  intelligent  and  honest, 
first  need  of  any  nation,  197 

Civil  service,  merit  system  is  de 
mocratic  and  American,  334; 
merit  system  of  immense  ad 
vantage  to  Government,  334; 
temporary  employment  of 
clerks  should  be  under  civil 
service  law,  335 ;  merit  system 
should  be  applied  rigidly  in 
insular  positions,  335;  merit 
system  a  method  of  procuring 
honest  and  efficient  adminis 
tration,  335;  merit  system 
should  be  extended  to  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  Govern 
ment,  335,  375;  improvement 
recommended  in  consular  ser 
vice.  3755  appointments  in 
1903,  409;  extension  of  rules, 
409;  executive  orders  con 
cerning  appointments  of  la 
borers,  409 

Civil  Service  Commission,  deci 
sion  of,  in  case  of  William  A. 
Miller,  273 

Civil  War,  28,  163;  wounds  left 
by,  have  healed,  4;  memories 
of,  4;  qualities  which  decided 
its  result,  42;  Chickamauga 
battle-field,  59,  60;  share  of 
Northwest  in,  154;  burden 
borne  by  soldiers  of,  242; 
battle  of  Antietam,  245-246; 
commendation  of  veterans  of, 
333-334 


Clarke,  George  Rogers,  173 

Clay  ton- B  ulwer  treaty,  1 1 6 ; 
abrogation  of,  320 

Cleveland,  Grover,  29 

Coal,  removal  of  duty  on,  141; 
strike  in  anthracite  region, 
152.  See  Anthracite  Coal 
Strike  Commission. 

Collins,  P.  A.,  19 

Colombia,  canal  treaty  negotia 
tions  with,  117,  359,  413,  417. 
See  Isthmian  Canal. 

Columbia  Gardens,  Butte,  Mont., 
213 

Combinations  of  labor  and  of 
capital,  9;  have  worked  for 
good  in  many  ways,  9;  must 
work  under  the  law,  9;  laws 
concerning  them  must  be  just 
and  wise,  9;  necessities  in 
urban  life,  13,  150;  much  of 
complaint  against,  is  entirely 
unwarranted,  14;  beneficial 
when  used  aright,  14,  64,  75; 
publicity,  1 7 ;  necessary  under 
present  conditions,  355;  im 
portance  of,  383;  policy  of 
National  Government  regard 
ing,  384.  See  Corporations, 
Trusts,  and  Capital  and  labor. 

Commerce,  instruments  of,  when 
this  Government  was  founded, 
23,  47,  62;  revolution  in 
means  of,  in  recent  years,  48 

Commerce  and  Labor,  Depart 
ment  of,  131,  380;  Commis 
sioner  of  Corporations,  powers 
granted  to,  131;  preliminary 
work  of,  with  reference  to  cor 
porations,  132;  act  creating, 
is  in  interest  of  propertied 
classes  as  well  as  of  people  as 
a  whole,  240;  creation  of, 
recommended,  298,  357;  In 
terstate  Commerce  Commis 
sion,  380;  Bureau  of  Corpora 
tions,  380;  organization  of, 

•   381;    scope   of,   381;    Bureau 

/    of  Corporations,    preliminary 

/    work  of,  381;  Bureau  of  Cor- 

/     porations,    purpose    of,    381- 

382 ;  fair  treatment  for  capital 

and  labor  to  be  secured  by, 

383 

Commercial  Pacific  Cable  Com 
pany,  361 


INDEX 


469 


Confederate  veterans,  and  sons 
of,  in  Spanish  War,  5,  59 

Constitution,  15 ;  amendment  of, 
may  be  necessary  in  dealing 
with  corporations,  16,  27,  41, 
50,  72,  298,  351 

Consular  service,  necessity  for 
reorganization,  335,  336; 
improvement  recommended, 
375;  reduction  in  cost  of,  400 

Corporations,  19,  39,  45,  61,  128, 
292-298,  348-351,  380-384; 
necessary  in  business  world 
under  present  conditions,  14, 
58»  355  i  are  creatures  of  the 
State,  15;  necessary  degree  of 
control  increased  by  develop 
ment  of  industrial  conditions, 
1 5 ;  States  have  not  exercised 
sufficient  control  of,  15; 
Nation  must  assume  power 
of  control  of,  15,  16,  25,  43, 
50,  70,  71,  08,  130,  131,  295, 
297;  amendment  of  Consti 
tution  may  be  necessary  in 
dealing  with,  16,  27,  41,  50, 
72,  298,  351;  should  not  be 
dealt  with  in  spirit  of  .class 
legislation,  hatred,  or  ran 
cor  1 6.  64,  138;  publicity,  17, 
25,  51,  71,  130,  132,  296,  349, 
381,  383;  power  of  control 
should  be  used  with  wisdom 
and  restraint,  17,  72;  steps 
necessary  to  gain  control  of, 
23—25  ;  cannot  be  satisfactorily 
controlled  by  State  action,  24- 
25 ;  suits  against,  by  the  Gov 
ernment,  26;  doing  well, 
should  be  encouraged,  41; 
the  industrial  tendency  of  the 
age  cannot  be  reversed,  46; 
State  laws  regarding,  49; 
properly  handled,  make  for 
general  prosperity,  64;  sav 
ings  banks,  a  good  illustra 
tion  of  beneficent  work  of,  65 ; 
legislation  enacted  by  Con 
gress,  131,  380;  Commissioner 
of,  powers  granted  to,  131; 
Industrial  Commission,  re 
port  of,  132  ;  preliminary  work 
of  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  relative  to,  132 ; 
investigation  of  methods  of 
railroads,  133;  suits  against 


Northern  Securities  Company 
and  others,  135;  proceedings 
against  Southern  railroads  in 
interest  of  cotton  shippers, 
136;  injunction  against  pack 
ing-house  companies,  136;  in 
junction  against  Federal  Salt 
Company,  137;  should  be 
regulated,  not  destroyed,  138; 
a  very  potent  factor  in  inter 
national  commercial  competi 
tion,  293;  honest,  publicity 
cannot  harm,  349,  383;  re 
view  of  legislation  concerning, 
380;  legislation  has  been  con 
servative,  382.  See  Combina 
tions  and  Trusts. 

Corporations,  Bureau  of.  See 
Commerce  and  Labor,  De 
partment  of. 

Cortelyou,  George  B.,  274-275 

Costa  Rica,  425;  recognition  of 
Republic  of  Panama,  460 

Cotton  shippers,  proceedings 
against  Southern  railroads  in 
interest  of,  136 

Cotton  weevil,  407 

Country,  upbuilding  of  any 
part  of,  is  a  benefit  to  the 
whole,  6 

Country  districts,  American 
spirit  found  most  surely  in,  32 

Courage  and  hardihood,  indis 
pensable  virtues,  179 

Crane   W.  Murray,  19 

Crawford,  George,  272 

Credit,  necessary  in  business 
world,  76;  confidence  is  essen 
tial  to,  76 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  259 

Crum,  Dr.  William  D.,  letter  re 
garding  appointment  of,  266 

Cuba,  6,  104,  202  —  204; 
what  United  States  has 
done  for,  6;  turned  over  to 
Cubans  in  better  condition 
than  ever  before,  7;  commu 
nity  of  interests  between,  and 
the  United  States,  7,  377;  po 
litical  relations  with  United 
States  should  differ  from 
those  with  other  powers,  7 ; 
entitled  to  better  economic 
position  here  than  United 
States  gives  to  other  powers, 
7;  reciprocity  with,  140,  315, 


470 


INDEX 


Cuba.,— Continued 

357*  377'  nava-l  stations  of 
United  States  in,  141,  377, 
378;  Platt  amendment,  141; 
special  relation  of,  to  our  in 
ternational  political  system, 
141 ;  should  have  benefit  of 
our  economic  system,  141, 


377;  progress  in,  315, 
our  attitude  a  guaranty  of  our 
good  faith,  322;  turning  over 
of  government,  357 ;  whatever 
affects,  for  good  or  ill,  affects 
United  States,  357;  a  part  of 
our  international  political  sys 
tem,  358,  377;  Message  to 
Congress  concerning  recipro 
city  treaty,  377;  recognition 
of  Republic  of  Panama,  460 
Cure-alls  should  be  distrusted,  1 7 
Currency,  honest,  is  strongest 
symbol  and  expression  of 
honest  business  life,  76;  sus 
picious  tampering  with,  is 
fatal  to  prosperity,  76;  de 
based,  is  ruinous  to  commu 
nity,  76;  sound  system,  is  of 
benefit  to  all,  240;  should  be 
made  responsive  to  demands 
of  commerce,  305;  integrity 
of,  beyond  question,  385.  See 
Finance. 


Danish  West  Indies,  6 

Daylight  a  powerful  discourager 
of  evil,  1 7 

Debts,  repudiation  of,  is  ruinous 
to  debtors,  76 

Dedication  Canticle,  Grace  Me 
morial  Reformed  Church,  quo 
tation  from,  225 

'Denmark,  recognition  of  Repub 
lic  of  Panama,  460 

District  of  Columbia,  should 
have  model  labor  laws,  152; 
legislation  recommended,  374; 
Washington  should  be  a 
model  for  all  the  cities  of  the 
country,  374;  employers  lia 
bility  act  recommended  for, 
374;  merit  system  should  be 
extended  to  civil  service  of, 
375;  Board  of  Charities,  410- 
411 

Doane,  Bishop  William  C.,  256 


Dodge,  Gen.  Grenville  M.,  250 
Duke,  Basil,  272 
Duncan,  James,  275 
Durbin,  Winfield  T.,  277 


E 


Economic  policy  should  be  sta 
ble,  12 

Education,  duties  imposed  by, 
192,  200;  in  this  country,  is  at 
disposal  of  every  individual, 
200 

Edwards,  Harry  Stillwell,  271 

Ehrman,  Felix,  418 

Electricity  and  steam,  results  of 
development  of,  12 

Electricity  a  means  of  improv 
ing  conditions  of  farm  life, 
169—170 

Emancipation  proclamation,  245 

Employer  and  employee,  should 
show  regard  for  rights  of  each 
other  and  of  the  public,  84; 
better  understanding  be 
tween,  should  be  secured,  151 

Employers  liability  law,  153, 
374 

Envy,  meanest  form  of  admira 
tion,  20 1 

Everett,  Edward,  423 

Evil,  daylight  a  powerful  dis 
courager  of,  17 

Expansion  of  nation,  168,  173; 
results  of,  contrasted  with 
Rome  and  Greece,  174—176 


Fargo,  N.  Dak.,  speech  at,  April 
7,  1903,  154 

Farmer,  well-being  of,  and  of 
wage  worker,  is  well-being  of 
State,  147,  232,  373;  least  af 
fected  by  industrial  changes 
of  last  half  century,  147; 
work  of  Department  of  Agri 
culture  in  interest  of ,  147,  148, 
149;  legislation  in  interest  of, 
148;  education  of,  149;  re 
tains  to  pre-eminent  degree 
distinctly  American  qualities, 
150;  problems  affecting,  165; 
prosperity  of,  interwoven  with 
that  of  business  and  profes 
sional  men,  233 


INDEX 


471 


Farm  life,  value  of,  to  youth,  32 ; 
development  of,  33;  improved 
conditions  due  to  trolley  lines, 
telephone,  and  rural  mail  de 
livery,  170 

Federal  Salt  Company,  injunc 
tion  against,  137 

Filipinos,  155-157;  government 
of  islands  conducted  purely 
in  interest  of,  157 

Finance,  credit  necessary  in 
business  world,  76;  confidence 
essential  to  credit,  76;  system 
of  assured  honesty  is  first  es 
sential  to  prosperity,  76;  cir 
culation  per  capita  larger 
than  ever  before,  240;  nation 
is  on  a  gold  basis,  240;  gold 
standard,  effect  of  Act  of 
March  14,  1900,  305;  better 
safeguards  against  panic 
needed,  305;  revenues  should 
approximate  limit  of  our  ac 
tual  needs,  305;  strict  econ 
omy  in  expenditures  needed, 
306;  need  for  elasticity  in 
monetary  system,  354;  banks 
the  natural  servants  of  com 
merce,  354;  additional  legis 
lation  desirable,  355;  Govern 
ment  receipts  and  expendi 
tures,  384;  a  large  surplus  un 
desirable,  385;  integrity  of 
our  currency  beyond  ques 
tion,  385;  needs  of  financial 
situation,  385;  International 
Monetary  Exchange  Commis 
sion,  385.  See  Currency. 

Financial  stability  should  be  in 
sured  by  the  Government,  76 

First  Regiment,  United  States 
Volunteer  Cavalry,  53,  59; 
Southern  members  of,  5 

Fish,  Hamilton,  423 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  speech  at, 
September  2,  1902,  38 

Flag,  the,  5,  6 

Flanders,  236 

Foreign  policy,  126,  127 

Forestry,  work  of  Government 
in  interest  of,  149;  Bureau  of, 

J95 

Forests,  should  be  preserved  as 
permanent  sources  of  national 
wealth,  193,  220,  221;  preser 
vation  of,  193-196,  307,  308, 


369,  406;  preservation  of,  in 
California,  194;  should  be  per 
petuated  by  use,  308;  preser 
vation  of,  an  imperative  busi 
ness  necessity,  308;  sugges 
tions  concerning  care  of,  308- 
310;  water  supply  depends  on, 
309;  are  natural  reservoirs, 
310;  wild  creatures  should  be 
protected  against  slaughter, 
369;  reserves,  demand  for  in 
the  West,  407;  care  of,  should 
be  consolidated  in  Bureau  of 
Forestry,  407 

Fortunes,  private  and  corporate, 
increase  of,  12 

France,  395,  396;  pioneers  of,  in 
America,  172;  proposal  to  aid 
French  Panama  Company, 
428 ;  recognition  of  Republic  of 
Panama,  460 

Franchise  Tax  law  of  New  York 
State  is  in  interest  of  proper 
tied  classes  as  well  as  of  people 
as  a  whole,  240 

Frankel,  Lee  K.,  387 

Frederick,  Empress  Dowager  of 
Germany,  345 

Fredericksburg,  battle  of,  59 

Free  trade  as  a  remedy  for 
trusts,  67-70 

French  Panama  Canal  Company, 
359.  428 


Game,  protection  of,  369 

Garfiela,  James  A.,  assassina 
tion  of,  285 

General  Land  Office,  receipts 
for  1903,  404 

General  Staff,  bill  creating,  160; 
of  immense  importance  and 
benefit  to  Army,  161 

Germany,  395,  396;  attitude  of, 
regarding  acquisition  of  South 
American  territory,  119; 
claims  of,  against  Venezuela, 
119;  death  of  Empress  Dow 
ager  Frederick,  345 ;  recog 
nition  of  Republic  of  Panama, 
460 

Gibbons,  Cardinal,  171 

Gold  standard,  effect  of  Act  of 
March  14,  1900,  305 

Gompers,  Samuel,  275 


472 


INDEX 


Good  Roads,  Convention,  ad 
dress  before,  April  29,  1903, 
167;  good  means  of  commu 
nication  characteristic  of  civi 
lization,  1 68.  See  Roads. 

Government,  161;  should  have 
power  of  control  over  corpora 
tions,  9,  50,  70;  administra 
tion  of,  must  be  fair  and  hon 
est,  9 ;  qualities  needed  in,  12; 
division  of  power  between 
Nation  and  States,  15;  action 
of,  can  only  supplement  ini 
tiative  of  the  individual,  18; 
action  of,  can  only  secure  an 
opportunity  to  each  individ 
ual,  1 8 ;  will  hold  rich  and  poor 
alike  to  obedience  of  laws,  64; 
will  deal  justly  with  all  men, 
7  2 ;  power  over  corporations 
should  be  exercised  with  wis 
dom  and  restraint,  7  2 ;  should 
insure  to  the  country  financial 
stability,  76;  stability  and 
future  welfare  of,  depend  upon 
grade  of  citizenship  turned  out 
by  public  schools,  88;  action 
of,  in  interest  of  farmers,  148; 
work  of,  in  interest  of  forestry, 
149;  has  small  field  for  work 
in  labor  matters,  152;  Amer 
ican,  is  one  of  liberty  by, 
through,  and  under  the  law, 
211,  238;  American,  is  not, 
and  never  shall  be,  govern 
ment  of  plutocracy  or  of  mob, 
211,  215;  a  healthy  repub 
lican,  must  rest  upon  individ 
uals,  234;  fate  of,  depends 
upon  people  as  a  whole,  254; 
recei  p  ts  and  expenditures  ,305, 
384;  no  objection  to  em 
ployees  constituting  them 
selves  into  a  union,  374 

Grace  Memorial  Reformed 
Church,  Washington,  D.  C., 
225 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  38,  42,  101, 
162,  164,  250 

Great  Britain,  39?,  396;  Roman 
roads  in,  167;  Newfoundland 
reciprocity  treaty,  358;  recog 
nition  of  Republic  of  Panama, 
460 

Great  Northern  Railway,  135 

Greece,   236;  results  of  expan 


sion    of    United    States    con 
trasted  with,  174—176 
Greene,  Francis  V.,  246 
Greene,  Gen.  George  Sears,  246 


H 


Hague,  The,  peace  conference 
at,  321;  Hague,  The,  Perma 
nent  Court  of  Arbitration, 
claims  against  Venezuela,  120, 
396;  United  States  and  Mex 
ico  the  first  to  use  good  offices 
of,  120,  359 

Hancock,  Gen.  Winfield  S.,  250 

Hannahan,  J.  J.,  52 

Hanson,  J.  F.,  271 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  29 

Harvard  University,  188 

Haverhill,  Mass.,  speech  at, 
August  26,  1902,  28 

Hawaii,  should  be  developed  on 
American  lines,  314;  cable 
to,  and  the  Philippines,  319, 
360—362;  fire  claims,  359; 
lighthouses  in,  403 ;  recom 
mendations  concerning,  403 

Hay-Herran  treaty,  426,  429 

Hay-Pauncefote  treaty,  116, 
320,  429 

Herbert,  Sir  Michael,  British 
Ambassador,  note  to  Marquis 
of  Lansdowne,  November  13, 
1902,  119 

Higgins,  Frank  W.,  232 

Holy  Name  Society,  228 

Homage  of  deeds  better  than 
words,  162,  164,  190,  252 

Home  life  source  of  highest 
joys,  265 

Homestead  law,  a  notable  in 
strument  for  good,  197 

Honor,  of  Nation,  at  all  times  in 
its  own  keeping,  28;  of  Na 
tion,  depends  upon  public 
conscience,  28 

Hood,  Gen.  John  B.,  59 

Howell,  Clark,  269 

Hubbard,  Commander  John, 
438,  443;  response  of,  to  cable 
from  Navy  Department,  442; 
letter  of  November  5,  1903, 
444-446;  letter  of  November 
8,  1903,  446-450;  course  of, 
at  Colon,  450-452 

Humbert,  King  of  Italy,  290 


INDEX 


473 


Humphrey,  Captain  C.  B.,  438, 

439 

Hynes,  Thomas  W.,  387 
Hysterics,  an  undesirable  qual 
ity  in  both  Nation  and  indi 
vidual,  20,  46 

I 

Immigration,  laws, wage  workers 
should  be  protected  by,  298; 
discussed,  301-302;  steam 
ship  companies  should  be 
held  to  strict  accountability 
for  infraction  of  laws,  302 ; 
need  of  a  proper  law,  355; 
discussion  of  needs  concern 
ing,  387 ;  improvement  of  ser 
vice  at  New  York,  387;  in 
vestigation  of  service  at  New 
York,  387 

Indians,  should  now  be  treated 
as  individuals,  not  as  mem 
bers  of  tribes,  336;  results  of 
General  Allotment  Act,  336; 
education  of,  should  be  ele 
mentary  and  largely  indus 
trial,  337;  ration  system 
highly  detrimental  to,  337; 
number  of  agencies  should  be 
reduced,  337;  should  be  pre 
served  from  evils  resulting 
from  liquor  traffic,  337; 
should  ultimately  be  absorbed 
into  body  of  people,  371; 
schools,  importance  of  work 
of,  372;  development  of,  372; 
personnel  of  agencies  should 
not  be  dependent  on  partisan 
politics,  408;  need  of  educa 
tion  in  Indian  Territory,  408 

Individual  initiative,  faculty  of, 
should  be  kept  unimpaired  in 
fraternal  organization,  56 

Industrial  Commission,  report 
of,  132 

Interior  Department,  receipts  of 
General  Land  Office  for  1903, 
404 

Interstate  Commerce,  safety  ap 
pliance  law,  153;  authority  of 
Congress  to  regulate,  350 

Interstate  Commerce  Act,  297; 
lessons  drawn  from  results  of 
its  enforcement,  306;  defects 
of,  306;  should  be  amended, 
307 


Interstate  Commerce  Commis 
sion,  380 

Introduction,  v. 

Irrigation,  197,  206-209,  222. 
223;  Act,  197;  importance  of, 
to  California,  196;  as  import 
ant  to  stockman  as  to  agri 
culturist,  220;  provision  for, 
properly  a  national  function, 
310;  beneficial  results  of,  311- 
312  ;  necessity  for  better  laws, 
313;  nationally-aided,  import 
ance  of,  369;  fund  for,  404; 
progress  of,  405-406;  Re 
clamation  Service,  405;  im 
portance  of  preservation  of 
forests,  406 

Isthmian  Canal,  6,  116,  359-360, 
413-463;  importance  of,  320; 
Clayton-Bulwer  treaty,  abro 
gation  of,  320;  Hay-Paunce- 
fote  treaty,  320,  429;  nego 
tiations  with  Colombia,  359; 
work  should  be  conducted 
without  regard  to  change  of 
administration,  360;  treaty 
with  Colombia,  413,  417,  426, 
429-431 ;  treaty  with  Panama, 
414,  425-426;  purpose  of  law 
of  June  28,  1902,  414;  treaty 
with  New  Granada,  414;  his 
tory  of  relations  of  United 
States  to,  414-423;  statement 
by  Secretary  Cass,  of  position 
of  United  States,  415,  428; 
position  of  Secretary  Seward 
on,  416;  opinion  of  Attorney- 
General  Speed,  416;  planned 
for  four  hundred  years,  416; 
United  States  has  done  its 
duty  in  letter  and  in  spirit, 
417;  repudiation  of  treaty  by 
Colombia,  417;  revolution  in 
Panama,  418,  435-438,  442- 
453,  460;  telegram  to  Vice- 
Consul  General  Ehrman,  at 
Panama,  418;  recognition  of 
de  facto  government  of  Pan 
ama,  418;  telegram  to  Minis 
ter  Beaupre",  at  Bogota,  419; 
list  of  disturbances  on  Isth 
mus  since  1846,  419-421;  Co 
lombia's  inability  to  keep 
order  on  Isthmus,  422;  efforts 
of  United  States  to  keep 
transit  open,  422;  Colombia's 


474 


INDEX 


Isthmian  Canal, — Continued 
request  for  aid  in  preserving 
sovereignty,  422;  importance 
to  United  States  of  control  of 
transit,  423;  performance  of 
treaty  obligations  by  United 
States,  423;  must  be  built  by 
United  States,  425;  treaty 
offered  by  Nicaragua,  425; 
treaty  offered  by  Costa  Rica, 
425;  Hay-Herran  treaty,  426, 
429,  430,  455,  4575  Message  to 
Congress,  January  4,  1904, 
427;  record  of  action  taken 
in  executing  Canal  Act,  427; 
proposal  of  France  to  aid 
French  Panama  Canal  Com 
pany,  428;  unanimity  of  ac 
tion  in  Panama,  431;  warn 
ings  to  Colombia,  433 ;  fore 
casts  of  Panama  revolution, 
435-438;  quotations  from 
Washington  Post,  435,  436, 
437;  quotation  from  New 
York  Herald,  436;  quotation 
from  New  York  Times,  43  7 ; 
imminence  of  Panama  revo 
lution  notorious,  438;  report 
of  Capt.  Humphrey  and  Lieut. 
Murphy,  439;  directions  to 
Navy  Department,  440;  or 
ders  of  Navy  Department, 
440;  telegrams  from  and  to 
Secretary  of  Navy,  440-442; 
response  of  Commander  Hub- 
bard  to  cable  from  Navy  De 
partment,  442 ;  Associated 
Press  bulletin  announcing  re 
volutionary  outbreak,  442; 
cable  from  State  Department, 
442;  cable  from  consul  at 
Colon,  443;  landing  of  force 
.  to  protect  American  citizens, 
443  '•>  Colombian  threats  against 
American  citizens,  443;  letter 
of  Commander  Hubbard,  No 
vember  5,  1903,  444-446;  let 
ter  of  Commander  Hubbard, 
November  8,  1903,  446-450; 
course  of  Commander  Hub 
bard  at  Colon,  450—452;  quo 
tation  from  New  York  Eve 
ning  Post,  451 ;  prevention  by 
United  States  of  bloodshed, 
452;  peace  secured  by  action 
of  United  States,  452;  no 


ground  for  insinuations  of 
United  States'  complicity  in 
revolution,  452-453;  recogni 
tion  of  independence  of  Pan 
ama  justifiable,  453;  Colom 
bia's  requests  to  other  govern 
ments  to  intervene,  455-456; 
intention  of  Colombia  to  con 
fiscate  canal  property,  457— 
458;  resolution  of  second  Pan- 
American  Conference,  459; 
recognition  of  Panama  by 
other  nations,  460;  Panama 
justified  in  separating  from 
Colombia,  460 ;  interference  in 
Cuba  compared  with  that  in 
Panama,  460-461 ;  instruction 
of  President  John  Quincy 
Adams  to  Minister  to  Colom 
bia,  462 

Italy,  236,  395,  396,  423;  Roman 
roads  in,  167;  recognition  of 
Republic  of  Panama,  460 


Jackson,  Andrew,  101 

Japan,  recognition  of  Republic 

of  Panama,  460 
ay,  John,  173 

efferson,  Thomas,  101,  179,  376 
enkins,  Major  Micah  J.,  5,  59 
eshurun,  n 

ette,  Sir  Louis  Amable,  393 
ohnson,  Walter  H.,  271 
ones,  Judge  Thomas  G.,  272 
ordan,  David  Starr,  188 
ustice,  Department  of,  enforce 
ment  of  an ti- trust  law,  351, 
389.     See  Knox,  P.  C. 


K 


Kearns,  Thomas,  217 

Kearsarge,  U.  S.  S.,  228 

Kentucky  monument  at  Chicka- 
mauga,  inscription  on,  60 

Knox,  P.  C.,  26,  98,  133,  134, 
163;  prosecution  of  railroads 
of  Middle  West,  125;  adminis 
tration  of  law  by,  134—137; 
suit  against  Northern  Securi 
ties  Company,  135 ;  injunction 
against  packing-house  com 
panies,  136 ;  injunction  against 
Federal  Salt  Company,  137; 


INDEX 


475 


Knox , — Continued 

proceedings  against  Southern 
railroads  in  interest  of  cotton 
shippers,  136 

L 

Labor,  employer  and  employee 
should  show  regard  for  rights 
of  each  other  and  of  the  pub 
lic,  84;  well-being  of  farmer 
and  wage  worker  is  well-being 
of  the  State,  147;  combina 
tions  of,  necessary  for  success, 
150;  laws  for  regulation  and 
protection  of,  151;  better  un 
derstanding  should  be  secured 
between  employer  and  em 
ployee,  151;  and  capital,  arbi 
tration  between,  152;  legisla 
tion,  action  of  Congress  neces 
sarily  limited,  153 ;  employers' 
liability^  law  recommended, 
153,  374;  discussion  of,  298- 
300;  should  be  protected 
by  tariff  and  immigration 
laws,  208;  legislation  recom 
mended,  298-299;  Chinese 
Exclusion  Act  should  be  re- 
enacted,  299;  convict  con 
tract,  should  not  compete  in 
open  labor  market,  299;  en 
forcement  of  eight-hour  law 
advocated,  299;  women  and 
children  should  be  protected 
from  excessive  hours  and  un 
sanitary  conditions,  299.  See 
Capital  and  labor. 

Labor  Day,  232 

Labor  unions,  worth  of,  de 
pends  upon  their  conduct,  54; 
and  the  public  service,  273— 
276;  no  objection  to  employees 
of  Government  Printing  Office 
constituting  themselves  into, 
274;  cannot  be  permitted  to 
override  la\vsof  United  States, 
274;  quotation  from  report  of 
Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Com 
mission  ,  274—275;  interview 
with  Executive  Council  of 
American  Federation  of  La 
bor,  275-276;  good  accom 
plished  by,  300;  importance 
of,  383 ;  policy  of  National 
Government  regarding,  384. 
See  Combinations. 


Land  Office,  General,  receipts 
for,  1903,  404 

Lands,  public.    See  Public  lands. 

Lawlessness,  encouraged  by 
lynching,  279;  spirit  of,  grows 
with  what  it  feeds  on,  280 

Laws,  must  be  wise,  sane,  and 
healthy,  9;  must  not  be  ad 
ministered  in  interest  of  a 
class,  9,  276;  can  only  give  op 
portunity  for  prosperity,  n, 
63,  75,  94,  1 66;  existing  anti 
trust,  will  be  fully  enforced, 
18,  26,  64,  138,  211,  214,  351, 
389 ;  requirement  of  obedience 
to,  a  safeguard  to  all  men,  22, 
65;  obedience  to,  will  be  re 
quired  of  all,  64,  73,  239; 
cannot  create  industrial  well- 
being,  71,;  should  be  admin 
istered  in  interest  of  law- 
abiding  man,  rich  or  poor, 
138,  214;  regulating  corpora 
tions,  will  be  enforced  without 
rancor,  hysteria,  etc.,  138;  the 
law  no  respecter  of  persons, 
214;  to  be  enforced  against 
any  man,  rich  or  poor,  who 
violates  them,  214;  the  same 
for  rich  and  poor,  for  great 
and  small,  239;  no  man  above 
the  law  and  no  man  below  it, 
244;  of  United  States,  enacted 
for  benefit  of  the  whole 
people,  276;  of  United  States, 
must  not  be  construed  as  per 
mitting  discrimination,  276; 
immigration,  298,  302,  355. 
See  Legislation. 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  245 

Legislation,  class,  must  be 
avoided,  16;  additional,  should 
be  had  concerning  trusts,  18; 
should  proceed  by  evolution, 
not  revolution,  45,  63;  radical 
and  extreme,  should  be 
avoided,  138;  labor,  action  of 
Congress  necessarily  limited, 
153;  to  be  permanently  good 
for  any  class,  must  also  be 
good  for  Nation  as  a  whole, 
240;  which  does  injustice  to 
any  class,  works  harm  to  Na 
tion,  240 

Leland,  Stanford  Jr.,  University, 
speech  at,  May  12,  1903,  188 


476 


INDEX 


Lewis  and  Clark  Centennial 
Exposition,  402 

Libraries,  public,  339-340 

Library  of  Congress,  340 

Life,  to  be  worth  living,  must  be 
of  active  and  hard  work,  229; 
prime  aim  of,  should  be  doing 
of  duty,  241 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  38,  92,  101, 
162,  164,  188,  235,  245,  251; 
practical  methods  of,  164; 
monument,  Springfield,  111., 
224;  assassination  of,  285 

Lodge,  H.  C     393 

Logan,  Gen.  John  A.,  250 

Logansport,  Ind.,  speech  at, 
September  23,  1902,  74 

Loomis,  Francis  B.,  442. 

Louisiana,  early  possessors  of, 
172. 

Louisiana  Purchase,  173;  Ex 
position,  speech  at  dedication 
ceremonies,  172;  influence  of, 
on  character  of  our  national 
life,  173;  development  of, 
176-178;  Exposition,  should 
have  cordial  national  sup 
port,  337,  401;  greatest  in 
stance  of  expansion  in  our 
history,  338;  first  great  step 
in  our  expansion,  401 

Lynching,  growth  of,  cause  for 
gravest  alarm,  277;  letter  to 
Governor  Durbin  in  relation 
to,  277-281;  degrading  effect 
of,  on  participants,  279;  en 
courages  lawlessness,  279;  all 
public  men  should  unite  to 
denounce,  280 


M 


Maguire,  M.  W.,  57 

Malmros,  Oscar,  443 

Manchuria,  400 

Manila,  29,  324 

Massachusetts,  corporation  laws 
of,  excellent,  25 

McClellan,  Gen.  George  B.,  250 

McCook,  Col.  John  J.,  181 

Mcllhenny,  John,  272 

McKinley,  William,  29,  92,  155, 
203;  results  of  policies  cham 
pioned  by,  94;  pledges  of  1896 
have  been  well  kept,  94; 


policies  for  which  he  stood 
have  justified  themselves,  95; 
quotations  from,  96,  154,  397; 
speech  at  banquet  in  honor  of 
birthday  of,  January  27,  1903, 
100;  stands  as  embodiment  of 
the  triumphant  effort  of  his 
generation,  100;  was  in  the 
fullest  sense  President  of  all 
the  people,  103;  assassination 
of,  285-291;  qualities  of,  286; 
expressions  of  grief  at  death 
of,  from  Great  Britain,  345 

McMillin.  Benton,  52,  58 

Meade,  Gen.  George  Gordon,  2^0 

Meagher,  Gen.  Thomas  Francis, 
59 

Merchant  Marine,  immediate  re 
medial  action  needed,  304;  an 
auxiliary  force  for  the  Navy, 
304;  subsidies  discussed,  304; 
commission  recommended, 
386;  our  service  should  equal 
the  best,  386 

Merit  system.     See  Civil  service. 

Messages  to  Congress,  Annual, 
1901,  ist  Session,  57th  Con 
gress,  285;  same,  quotations 
from,  131;  Annual,  1902,  2d 
Session,  57th  Congress,  346; 
Cuban  reciprocity,  ist  Ses 
sion,  58th  Congress,  377;  An 
nual,  1903,  2d  Session,  58th 
Congress,  380;  Isthmian 
Canal,  2d  Session,  58th  Con 
gress,  427 

Methodist  Church  has  attained 
its  greatest  development  on 
American  Continent,  109 

Mexico,  395,  396;  Weil  and  La 
Abra  awards,  345 

Military  Academy.  See  West 
Point. 

Militia,  bill,  160;  reorganization 
of  system  recommended,  365. 
See  National  Guard. 

Miller,  William  A.,  case  of,  273- 
276;  reinstatement  of,  di 
rected,  274;  interview  with 
Executive  Council  of  Ameri 
can  Federation  of  Labor,  rela 
tive  to  case  of,  275-276 

Milwaukee,  Wis.,  speech  at, 
April  3,  1903,  128 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  speech  at, 
April  4,  1903,  140 


INDEX 


477 


Minnesota  State  Fair,  quotation 
from  speech  at,  130 

Minnesota  Thirteenth  Volunteer 
Regiment,  154 

Missionaries,  duties  of,  256—261 

Mitchell,  John,  275 

Mob  violence,  incompatible  with 
orderly  liberty  under  the  law, 
277;  simply  one  form  of  an 
archy,  277;  hideous  forms 
often  taken  by,  277 

Monroe  Doctrine,  126,  412;  a 
cardinal  feature  of  our  for 
eign  policy,  115,  366;  dis 
cussion  of,  115-123;  note  to 
Dr.  Von  Holleben,  German 
Ambassador,  118;  definition 
of,  118;  note  of  Sir  Michael 
Herbert,  British  Ambassador, 
to  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  No 
vember  13,  1902,  119;  is  not 
international  law,  121;  will  be 
kept  effective  by  an  efficient 
Navy,  1 2 1 ;  should  be  cardinal 
feature  of  foreign  policy  of  all 
nations  of  the  two  Americas, 
321;  quoted,  321-322;  a 
guaranty  of  commercial  inde 
pendence  of  Americas,  322; 
American  people  will  abide  by 
and  insist  upon,  324 

Monroe,  James,  321 

Moody,  W.  H.,  28,  31,  153 

Morrison,  Frank,  275 

Mount  Vernon,  376 

Murder  and  rape  should  be 
swiftly  punished  by  legal 
means,  278 

Murphy,  Franklin,  245,  246 

Murphy,  Lieut.  Grayson  Mallet- 
Prevost,  438,  439 


N 


Nation,  the,  what  it  has  done  for 
Cuba,  6;  has  kept  its  word 
and  done  its  duty  in  Cuba, 
7  ;  problems  can  be  solved  only 
if  approached  in  right  spirit, 
8;  action  of,  can  only  secure 
opportunity  to  each  individ 
ual,  18;  its  honor  is  at  all 
times  in  its  own  keeping,  28; 
honor  of,  depends  upon  the 
public  conscience,  28;  stabil 
ity  and  future  welfare  of,  de 


pend  upon  grade  of  citizen 
ship  turned  out  by  public 
schools,  88;  should  not  be 
guilty  of  boasting,  121,  125; 
should  submit  to  no  injury  by 
the  strong  and  inflict  no  in 
jury  on  the  weak,  125;  foreign 
policy  of,  126-127;  cannot 
afford,  by  any  freak  of  folly, 
to  forfeit  its  present  indus 
trial  position,  146;  well-being 
of  farmer  and  wage  worker  is 
well-being  of  State  147,  232, 
373;  vastly  benefited  by  An 
thracite  Coal  Strike  Commis 
sion,  1 5  2 ;  illustrious  memories 
of,  no  excuse  for  shirking 
present  problems,  162;  ex 
pansion  of,  168,  173,  174—176; 
worst  enemy  of,  he  wno  tries 
to  set  section  against  section, 
creed  against  creed,  or  class 
against  class,  214;  is  aggre 
gate  of  families  within  its 
borders,  253;  welfare  of,  rests 
upon  qualities  of  individual, 
291;  desires  self-respecting 
peace  with  all  others,  321 

National  Guard,  160,  411;  duty 
of  Nation  and  States  to  help, 
161;  suggestions  for  improve 
ment  of,  332-333;  importance 
of  securing  efficiency  of,  365 

National  Museum,  339,  374 

National  Zoological  Park,  339 

Naturalization,  investigation  of 
subject,  387;  frauds,  387-389; 
United  States  Supreme  Court 
quoted,  387;  suggestions  of 
Federal  grand  jury  in  New 
York,  389 

Naval  Academy.  See  Annap 
olis. 

Naval  Militia  should  have  na 
tional  encouragement,  328 

Naval  Reserve,  national,  should 
be  provided,  328 

Navy,  the,  28,  161,  253;  entire 
country  vitally  interested  in, 
28;  when  efficient,  is  best 
guaranty  of  peace,  28,  323, 
366;  services  of,  in  national 
crises,  28;  fighting  of,  in  War 
of  1812  and  Spanish  War, 
done  by  ships  built  long  in  ad 
vance,  29;  should  be  provided 


4/8 


INDEX 


Navy, — Continued 

and  trained  long  in  advance, 
29;  quality  of  enlisted  men  of, 
29;  cannot  be  improvised  at 
outbreak  of  war,  30,  122,  324; 
should  be  perfected  in  time  of 
peace,  30;  work  of  building-up 
must  go  on  without  ceasing, 
31.  323.  365.  412;  must  be 
used  up  in  active  service  even 
in  time  of  peace,  31 ;  should  be 
kept  in  condition  of  prepared 
ness  and  efficiency,  83,  125; 
so  long  as  efficient,  will  keep 
Monroe  Doctrine  effective,  121; 
improvement  of,  122;  em 
ploy  ers'  liability  law  recom 
mended  for  navy  yards,  153; 
party  lines  should  not  be  con 
sidered  in  dealing  with,  161; 
should  be  thoroughly  trained 
and  of  adequate  size,  323 ;  im 
provement  of ,  since  1882,  324- 
325;  additional  ships,  officers, 
and  men  needed,  326;  mid 
shipman,  title  should  be  re 
stored,  326;  gunnery  practice 
should  be  unceasing,  327,  365; 
beneficial  work  of  General 
Board,  328;  Naval  Militia 
should  have  national  encour 
agement,  328;  National  Naval 
Reserve  should  be  provided, 
328;  Admiral  of,  365;  neces 
sity  of  ample  funds  for  prac 
tice  with  great  guns,  365 ;  im 
portance  of  efficiency  of  per 
sonnel,  366;  need  for  naval 
base  in  Philippines,  413; 
Naval  General  Staff  desirable, 

Nebraska,  improvement  in  pros- 
'  perity  of,  163 

Negro,  "A  man  who  is  good 
enough  to  shed  his  blood  for 
the  country  is  good  enough  to 
be  given  a  square  deal,"  224; 
appointments,  266-273;  door 
of  opportunity  not  to  be  shut 
upon  any  man  purely  on  ac 
count  of  his  race  or  color,  268; 
domination,  question  of,  dis 
cussed,  268,  271 

Netherlands,  The,  395,  396" 

Nevada,  importance  to,  of  irri 
gation,  206;  holds  greatest 


proportion  of  vacant  public 
lands,  207 

Newell,  F.  H.,  405 

Newfoundland,  reciprocity 
treaty  with  Great  Britain  re 
garding,  358 

New  Granada,  canal  treaty  with, 
414 

New  Jersey,  monument  to  troops 
of,  at  Antietam,  245 

New  Orleans,  172 

New  York,  speech  at  banquet  of 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
State  of  New  York,  November 
n,  1902,  82;  speech  at  Car 
negie  Hall,  February  26,  1903, 
109 

New  York  State  Agricultural 
Association,  232 

Nicaragua,  425;  recognition  of 
Republic  of  Panama,  460 

North  and  South,  reunion  of,  4 

Northern  Pacific  Rai  way,  135 

Northern  Securities  Company, 
suit  against,  135 

Northwest,  share  of,  in  Civil  and 
Spanish  Wars,  154 

Norway  and  Sweden,  395,  396; 
recognition  of  Republic  of 
Panama,  460 


O'Connell,  James,  275 

Omaha,  Neb.,  speech  at,  April 

27,  1903,  162 

O'Neil,  Capt.  William  O.,  59 
Organization,  one  of  the  laws  of 

our  present  development,  54; 

worth  of  an,  depends  upon  its 

conduct,  54 

Organizations,    labor.     See   La 
bor  unions. 
Oyster  Bay,  N.  Y.,  remarks  to 

Holy  Name  Society,  August 

16,  1903,  228 


Pacific  cable,  319,  360-362 
Packing-house    companies,     in 
junction  against,  136 
Page,  Thomas  Nelson,  272 
Palma,  T.  Estrada,  President  of 

Cuba,   141 
Palmer,  F.  W.f  273,  274,  275 


INDEX 


479 


Palo  Alto,  Cal.,  speech  at,  May 
12,  1903,  188 

Panama,  Isthmus  of,  6;  Canal 
treaty  with,  414,  425—426; 
revolution  in,  418,  435-438, 
442-453,  460;  recognition  of 
Republic  of,  460.  See  Isthmian 
Canal. 

Pan- American  Congress  at  Mex 
ico,  344 

Pan-American  Exposition,  285, 

338-339 

Pan-American  Missionary  Ser 
vice,  Washington,  D.  C.,  256 

Party  spirit,  should  be  second  to 
patriotism,  76 

Party  system,  proper  aim  of,  is 
to  serve  public  good,  76 

Patents  to  foreigners,  407 

Peace,  the  voice  of  the  just  man 
armed  is  potent,  83;  Nation 
desires  self-respecting  peace 
with  all  others,  321,  323; 
conference  at  The  Hague,  321 ; 
a  good  Navy  the  surest  guar 
anty  of,  28,  323,  366 

Peckham,  Rufus  W.,  397 

Pensions,  409 

People,  earn  more  and  live  bet 
ter  than  ever  before,  13; 
should  proceed  by  evolution 
rather  tnan  revolution,  45,  63  ; 
should  not  accept  less  than 
the  possible,  nor  attempt  the 
impossible,  45;  are  in  habit  of 
facing  issues  squarely,  not 
shirking  them,  98;  a,  forfeits 
its  right  to  greatness  if  it 
shirks  any  work  because  it  is 
difficult  and  responsible,  202; 
American,  skilled  in  and  fitted 
for  self-government,  236; 
American,  slow  to  wrath,  291 

Pershing,  Captain  John  J.,  412 

Peru,  423  ;  recognition  of  Repub 
lic  of  Panama,  460 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  speech  at 
High  School,  November  22, 
1902,  88;  speech  at  Union 
League,  November  22,  1902, 
92 

Philanthropic  work  should  not 
be  undertaken  in  spirit  of 
condescension,  35;  should  be 
undertaken  in  spirit  of  sanity 
and  charity,  36 


Philbin,  Eugene  A.,  387 
Philippine  Islands,  5,  104,  154, 
202,  203;  progress  in,  5;  more 
warfare  about,  in  this  country 
than  in  themselves,  5 ;  acquisi 
tion  of,  95 ;  prophets  of  disas 
ter  have  seen  their  predictions 
completely  falsified,  96;  in 
surrection  in,  suppression  of, 
97,  105;  tariff,  141,  157,  403; 
promises  regarding,  have  been 
performed,  155;  restoration  of 
order  in,  the  first  duty,  155; 
conflict  in,  could  not  have 
been  honorably  abandoned, 
J55'  3J7'  Army  in,  156,  159, 
363;  work  of  Army  in,  amid 
storm  of  detraction,  156;  war 
in,  one  of  peculiar  difficulty, 
156;  soldiers  in,  occasional  in 
stances  of  wrong-doing  among 
inevitable,  156;  beneficent  re 
sults  of  work  of  Army  in,  156; 
military  rule  rapidly  replaced 
by  civil  government,  157;  re 
duction  of  Army  in,  ^57,  363; 
high  character  of  American 
administrators  in,  157;  Con 
gressional  legislation  regard 
ing,  157;  administration  in, 
incorruptibly  honest,  157; 
government  conducted  purely 
in  interest  of  Filipinos,  157, 
203;  adoption  of  tariff  for,  157, 
403;  appropriation  for  relief 
of,  158;  cattle  diseases  in,  158; 
brigandage  in,  158;  value  of 
services  of  William  H.  Taft  in, 
158;  American  policy  in,  159; 
insurrection  of  Aguinaldo  in 
1896,  159;  American  people 
will  never  flinch  from  duty  in, 
1 60;  given  greater  measure  of 
self-government  than  any 
other  Asiatic  people  under 
alien  rule,  203;  problems  in, 
316;  development  of  people 
necessarily  gradual,  316,  403; 
relinquishment  of,  would  be 
a  crime  against  humanity, 
317;  extension  of  self-govern 
ment  in,  317,  318,  362;  addi 
tional  legislation  needed,  318, 
319;  capital  must  be  en 
couraged  to  enter,  319;  cable 
to  Hawaii  and,  319,  360-362; 


48o 


INDEX 


Philippine  Islands, — Continued 
merit  system  should  be  ap 
plied  rigidly  in  civil  service  of, 
335'.  proclamation  of  peace 
and  amnesty,  362;  trouble 
with  Moros,  362;  introduction 
of  civil  government,  362;  ex 
tension  of  self-government 
should  be  gradual,  362;  co 
operation  of  Filipinos,  364; 
suggestions  concerning  tariff, 
403 ;  care  in  choice  of  officials, 
403 ;  improvement  in  con 
dition  of  people,  403 ;  need  for 
naval  base  in,  413 

Pinchot,  Gifford,  405 

Pinkney,  William,  173 

Pioneers,  work  and  character  of, 
no 

Platt  amendment,  141 

Polk,  James  K.,  456 

Poor,  the,  have  not  grown 
poorer,  13 

Population,  urban,  increase  of, 
12,  32 

Porto  Rico,  6,  104,  403;  pros 
perous  condition  of,  315,  362; 
need  of  legislation  concerning 
public  lands,  315;  merit  sys 
tem  should  be  applied  rigidly 
in  civil  service  of,  335 

Postal  service,  remarkable 
growth  of,  340;  reduction  of 
deficit,  340 ;  abuses  of  second- 
class  privilege,  341;  rural  free 
delivery,  341,  368-369,  400— 
401 ;  increase  in  revenues,  368 ; 
frauds  in,  390 

Power,  Rev.  Walter  J.,  228 

Preaching  does  not  count  if  not 
backed  up  by  practice,  231 

President,  the,  intention  of,  to 
'  do  justice  to  all  without  re 
gard  to  creed,  171 ;    aim  of,  is 
to  do  equal  justice  among  all 
the  people,  276 

Printing,  public,  reduction  of, 
advocated,  375^ 

Problems,  spirit  in  which  they 
should  be  approached,  17; 
national,  solution  of,  requires 
steady,  temperate,  resolute 
effort,  2 1 ;  of  trusts,  not  a  par 
tisan  one,  47 ;  present,  discus 
sion  of,  54,  147,  164;  of  present 
day,  unknown  to  our  fore 


fathers,  129;  each  generation 
has  its  own,  163;  of  capital 
and  labor,  165;  affecting  the 
farmer,  railroads,  and  trusts, 
165;  of  present  day,  rules 
which  should  govern,  165 ;  the 
same  in  all  parts  of  the  coun 
try,  179 

Promises,  worth  of,  consists 
purely  in  the  way  they  are 
performed,  19;  made  on  the 
stump,  should  be  kept  equally 
with  those  made  off  the  stump, 
19 ;  impossible  of  performance 
should  not  be  required,  19,  39, 
47,  213;  made  by  Republican 
party  in  1896  and  1900  have 
been  kept,  98;  regarding 
Philippines,  performed,  155 

Prosperity,  44,  129;  necessary 
foundation  of  higher  life,  8", 
i 86;  appeal  to  envy  and 
jealousy  of  those  who  succeed 
least,  8;  difficult  to  increase 
by  law,  easy  to  ruin,  8,  291, 
346;  troubles  in  connection 
with,  8;  does  not  come  in 
equal  measure  to  all,  8,  n,  66, 
94;  laws  can  only  give  oppor 
tunity  for,  ii,  94,  166,  291; 
must  be  achieved  by  each 
man  for  himself,  1 1 ;  reveals 
evils  in  our  social  and  econ 
omic  life,  12;  is  generally 
diffused,  66;  conditions  which 
existed  in  1893,  67;  due  to 
high  average  citizenship,  73, 
75;  material,  is  foundation 
upon  which  every  mighty 
national  structure  must  be 
built,  74,  1 86;  suspicious  tam 
pering  with  currency  is  fatal 
to,  76;  financial  system  of 
assured  honesty  is  first  essen 
tial  to,  76;  must  not  be 
marred  by  folly,  98;  piesent, 
won  under  protective  tariff, 
142;  present,  unparalleled  in 
our  history,  142;  shared  by 
all,  1 66,  233,  294;  of  farmer 
and  wage  worker,  means 
prosperity  of  community,  232; 
of  farmer  and  wage  worker, 
interwoven  with  that  of  busi 
ness  and  professional  men, 
233;  welfare  of  each  depend- 


INDEX 


481 


Prosperity, — Continued 

ent  upon  welfare  of  all,  234; 
continuance  of,  346;  condi 
tions  have  favored  growth  of 
evil  as  well  as  of  good,  348 

Providence,  R.  I.,  speech  at, 
August  23,  1902,  ii 

Public  lands,  1 96-1 98 ;  legislation 
should  help  to  make  and  keep 
prosperous  homes,  196;  pro 
prietors  who  rent  to  others, 
undesirable,  196;  remainder 
of,  should  be  reserved  for 
home-maker,  197,369;  vacant, 
Nevada  holds  greatest  pro 
portion  of,  207  ;  of  Porto  Rico, 
need  of  legislation  concerning, 
315;  frauds,  390;  removal  of 
fences,  404;  necessity  for  re 
vision  of  laws,  404;  Commis 
sion,  405 

Public  servant,  qualities  which 
he  should  possess,  254,  259, 
260 

Publicity,  securing  of,  should  be 
first  exercise  of  Nation's  pow 
er  over  corporations,  17,  25, 
51,  71,  130,  132,  296;  should 
be  real  and  thorough,  1 7 ; 
would  tend  to  cure  evils  in 
corporations  of  which  there 
is  just  complaint,  17;  cannot 
harm  honest  corporations, 
349,  38l»  383 


Q 


Qualities  necessary  to  national 
greatness,   182,  243 


Race  question.     See  Negro. 

Race  suicide,  265 

Railroad  men,  views  of  Gen.  W. 
T.  Sherman  regarding,  52; 
qualities  ot,  53,  181 

Railroads,  of  Middle  West, 
prosecution  of,  135;  investi 
gation  of  methods  of,  133; 
Southern,  proceedings  against, 
in  interest  of  cotton  shippers, 
136;  employees  of,  law  in  be 
half  of,  153;  safety  appliance 
law,  153,  374-375.  4o8;  prob 


lems  affecting,  165;  phe 
nomenal  growth  of,  1 68;  not 
a  substitute  for  good  wagon 
roads,  168;  additional  safety 
appliance  legislation  recom 
mended,  375 

Rape  and  murder  should  be 
swiftly  punished  by  legal 
means,  278 

Reciprocity,  treaty  with  Cuba, 
MO,  315,  357,  377;  tariff  sys 
tem  should  be  combined  with, 
302;  the  handmaiden  of  pro 
tection,  302 ;  will  promote  cor 
dial  international  relations, 
303;  lowering  of  duties  as  a 
substitute  for,  353;  treaties 
advocated,  353;  treaty  with 
Great  Britain  regarding  New 
foundland,  358;  Message  to 
Congress  concerning  treaty 


with  Cuba,  377 
Se 


See  Irri- 


Reclamation  Service, 
gation. 

Redwood  manufacturers  of  San 
Francisco,  194 

Republic,  the,  246;  permanency 
of,  dependent  upon  right  ac 
tion  of  majority,  20;  existence 
of,  depends  upon  orderly  lib 
erty  under  the  law,  277;  cor 
nerstone  of,  is  respect  for  and 
obedience  to  the  law,  280 

Republican  party  has  kept  every 
promise  made  in  1896  and  in 
1900,  98 

Revenues  should  approximate 
limit  of  our  actual  needs,  305 

Revolution,  American,  172 

Rhode  Island,  prosperity  of,  12 

Richards,  W.  A.,  405 

Rizal,  Jose,  quotation  from  mes 
sage  of,  159 

Roads,  good,  a  question  with 
which  the  States  alone  cannot 
deal,  149;  good,  characteristic 
of  great  empires,  167  ;  Roman, 
in  Great  Britain  and  in  Italy, 
167;  phenomenal  growth  of 
railroads,  168;  good,  Amer 
ican  nation  should  build,  168; 
good,  needed  for  improvement 
of  farm  life,  170;  good,  advo 
cated,  401.  See  Good  roads. 

Rockhill,  William  Woodville, 
342 


482 


INDEX 


Romans,  the,  permanent  traces 
of,  167 

Rome,  167;  results  of  expansion 
of  United  States  contrasted 
with,  174-176 

Root,  Elihu,  159,  393 

Rural  free  delivery,  develop 
ment  of,  341;  has  become  a 
fixed  policy,  368;  benefits  of, 
169-170,  368,  401;  extension 
of,  369.  400 

Russia,  396;  recognition  of  Re 
public  of  Panama,  460 


S 


Safety  appliance  law,  153,374- 
375,  408 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  address  before 
Good  Roads  Convention, 
April  29,  1903,  167;  speech  at 
St.  Louis  University,  April 

29,  1903,  171;  speech  at  dedi 
cation  ceremonies  of  Louisiana 
Purchase     Exposition,     April 

30,  1903,  172;  official  corrup 
tion  in,  390 

St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  Cathedral 

of  Washington,  256 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  speech  at, 

May  29,  1903,  217 
Salt    trust,   injunction  against, 

Santa  Fe,  N.  M.,  172 

Santiago,  324;  battle  of,  29,  59, 
60 

Sargent,  Frank  P.,  53 

Satterlee,  Bishop  Henry  Y.,  256 

Savings  banks,  a  good  illustra 
tion  of  beneficent  corporation 

.    work,  65 

Schools,  public,  stability  and 
welfare  of  Nation  depends 
upon  grade  of  citizenship 
turned  out  by,  88;  develop 
ment  of,  88;  teachers  in,  en 
titled  to  admiration  and  re 
spect,  89:  duties  and  respon 
sibilities  of  teachers  in,  89; 
necessity  for  playgrounds,  90 ; 
safety  of  our  institutions  de 
pends  upon  success  of  efforts 
of  teachers  in,  91 

Scott,  N.  B.,  44 

Self-government,  qualities  neces 


sary  to  preservation  of,  235; 
American    people    skilled    in 
and  fitted  for,  236 
Sempervirens  Club,  195 
Seward,  William  H.,  416 
Sheridan,    Gen.    Philip    H.f    42, 

250 
Sherman  anti- trust  law,  16,  134, 

136 

Sherman,  Gen.  William  T.,  42, 
251;  views  of,  regarding  rail 
road  men,  52,  59;  statue, 
Washington,  D.  C.,  speech  at 
unveiling  of,  250;  Nation's 
debt  to,  251;  example  of 
loftiest  and  best  in  American 
citizenship,  254;  qualities  of, 

255 

Shots  that  hit,  the  only  shots 
that  count,  30 

Siloam,  ii 

Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.,  182;  speech 
at,  April,  6,  1903,  147 

Slocum,  Gen.  Henry  W.,  246 

Smithsonian  Institution,  work 
of,  339;  recommendation  con 
cerning,  374 

Smyth,  J.  Adger,  3 

Social  equality,  271.   See  Negro. 

Soldiers  of  Civil  War,  burden 
borne  by,  242 

South,  the  Nation's  pride  in, 
10 

Spain,  395,  396;  pioneers  of,  in 
America,  172 

Spanish  War,  28,  104;  share  of 
Northwest  in,  154,  324;  our 
success  secured  by  forethought 
and  preparation,  325 

Sparks,  John,  206 

Speed,  James,  416 

Spokane,  Wash.,  speech  at,  May 
26,  1903,  210 

Springfield,  111.,  speech  at  Lin 
coln  monument,  June  4,  1903, 
224 

Standard  Oil  Company,  68 

Stanford,  Leland,  Jr.,  Univer 
sity,  1 88 

State,  the.     See  Nation. 

State  Fair,  Syracuse,  N.  Y., 
232 

States  duty  of,  to  help  National 
Guard,  161 

Steam  and  electricity,  results  of 
development  of,  12 


INDEX 


483 


Success,  qualities  which  tell  for 
should  not  be  penalized,  9,  41 
qualities     necessary     to,     18 
qualities  necessary  to,  do  not 
change,  39,  248,  249 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  quoted,  387,  397-398 

Sweden  and  Norway,  395,  396; 
recognition  of  Republic  of 
Panama,  460 

Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  speech  at  State 
Fair,  September  7,  1903,  232 


Tabernacle,  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah,  217 

Taft,  William  H.,  157^  202,  203, 
205.  31/;  value  67  services  in 
Philippines,  158,  203 

Talent,  unaccompanied  by  char 
acter,  a  menace  to  commu 
nity,  14 

Tariff,  should  be  flexible,  to 
meet  shifting  industrial  needs, 
12,  77,  144;  removal  of,  in 
efficient  as  a  remedy  for  evils 
of  trusts,  67-70,  138,  144,  145, 
351;  should  be  treated  as  a 
business,  not  a  political  pro 
position,  76,  143,  352;  should 
not  be  subject  to  radical 
changes  every  few  years,  77, 
143,  302,  352;  necessary 
modifications  of,  discussed,  78 ; 
Commission  of  business  ex 
perts  suggested,  79,  353;  in 
terests  of  American  producer 
should  be  protected,  79; 
American  standard  of  living 
must  be  preserved,  79,  142; 
laws  should  not  afford  ad 
vantage  to  foreign  over  Amer 
ican  industries,  80;  arrange 
ments  with  Philippines,  141, 
J57»  4°3:  removal  of,  on 
anthracite  coal,  141,  354; 
present  prosperity  won  under, 
142;  Nation's  policy,  based 
upon  recognition  of  difference 
between  cost  of  living  here  and 
abroad,  142,  303,  352;  ques 
tion  of  revision  stands  wholly 
apart  from  question  of  deal 
ing  with  trusts,  144;  affects 


trusts  only  as  it  affects  all 
other  interests,  145;  laws, 
labor  should  be  protected  by, 
298;  general  acquiescence  in 
present  system,  302;  general 
change  in,  unwise,  302,  352; 
sweeping  revisions  tend  to 
panic,  302;  system  should  be 
combined  with  one  of  reci- 

Erocity,  302;  must  cover  dif- 
jrence  between  labor  cost 
here  and  abroad,  303,  352 

Tasks  must  not  be  shirked  be 
cause  difficult,  9 

Thirteenth  Minnesota  Volun 
teers,  154 

Thomas,  Gen.  George  H.,  42, 
250 

Topeka,  Kan.,  speech  at,  May  i, 
1903,  181 

Trautmann,  Ralph,  387 

Trusts,  15-18,  19-27,  39,  45,  61, 
98,  348-351;  legislation  re 
garding,  should  not  be  too 
stringent,  16;  no  patent 
remedy  for  evils  of,  17,  47; 
additional  legislation  should 
be  had,  18;  solution  of  ques 
tion  of,  necessary  in  interest 
of  property,  2  2 ;  folly  of  de 
mand  for  their  destruction, 
39,  66;  perfect  solution 
of  question  of,  cannot  be 
promised,  43 ;  problem  of, 
is  not  a  partisan  one,  47 ; 
remedies  for  evils  of,  65-66; 
some  of  proposed  methods 
of  curbing,  are  dangerous, 
66;  removal  of  tariff  not 
efficient  as  a  remedy  for, 
67-70,  138,  144,  145,  351; 
tariff  affects,  only  as  it  affects 
all  other  interests,  145;  prob 
lems  affecting,  165;  discussion 
of,  292-298;  desirability  of 
regulation  of,  348;  should 
have  national  supervision, 
349;  line  drawn  against  mis 
conduct,  not  against  wealth, 
349;  insistence  upon  the  im 
possible  means  delay  in  achiev 
ing  the  possible,  349;  author 
ity  of  Congress  to  regulate  in 
terstate  commerce,  350;  ap 
propriation  for  enforcement 
of  an ti- trust  law,  389.  See 


INDEX 


Trusts,  — Continued 

Corporations    and    Combina 
tions. 

Turkey,  report  of  assassination 
of  vice-consul  at  Beirut,  399 

Turner,  George,  210,  393 


Union  League,  Philadelphia, 
speech  at  Founders'  Day 
banquet,  November  22,  1902, 
92 

Unions.  See  Labor  unions  and 
Combinations. 

United  States,  influence  of,  on 
Western  Hemisphere,  120; 
Republic  of,  typical  of  present 
age,  190;  position  of,  among 
the  nations,  346;  no  indepen 
dent  American  nation  need 
have  fear  of  aggression  from, 
360;  offices  of,  in  claims 
against  Venezuela,  395-396 

Utah,  achievements  of  pioneers, 
217-218 


Van  Vorst,  Mrs.  Bessie,  265 
Venezuela,  German  claims 
against,  117-119;  attitude  of 
Germany  toward  territory  of, 
119;  alliance  against,  395- 
396;  agreement  concerning 
claims  against,  395;  submis 
sion  of  claims  to  The  Hague 
Court,  396 

Victoria,  Queen,  death  of,  345 
Virginia,  University  of,  376 
.Von  Briesen,  Arthur,  387 
Von    Holleben,    Dr.    Theodore, 
German  Ambassador,  note  to, 
December  16,  1901,  118 


W 


Wagener,  F.  W.,  3 

Wage  worker,  well-being  of,  and 
of  farmer,  is  well-being  of  the 
State,  147,  232,  298,  303,  353; 
and  capitalist,  should  look  at 
differences  from  each  other's 
standpoint,  166;  prosperity  I 


of,  interwoven  with  that  of 
business  and  professional 
men,  233 ;  should  show  firm 
purpose  to  do  justice  to 
others,  239;  wages  higher  to 
day  than  ever  before,  298 

Wagner,  Charles,  The  Simple 
Life,  36 

War  of  1812,  28 

War  Department,  156,  159—160 

Washington,  D.  C.,  153;  speech 
at  Grace  Memorial  Reformed 
Church,  June  7,  1903,  225; 
speech  at  unveiling  of  Sher 
man  statue,  October  15,  1903, 
250;  speech  at  Pan- American 
missionary  service,  October 
25,  1903,  256;  should  be  a 
model  for  all  the  cities  of  the 
country,  374 

Washington,  George,  100,  160, 
162,  177,  235,  246 

Waukesha,  Wis.,  speech  at, 
April  3,  1903,  124 

Wealth,  used  wrongly,  is  a  men 
ace  to  the  community,  14; 
demagogic  denunciation  of,  is 
never  wholesome,  66;  used  in 
developing  great  legitimate 
business  enterprises,  is  of 
benefit,  not  harm,  210,  214; 
increase  of,  347;  line  not 
drawn  against,  but  against 
misconduct,  349 

Weil  and  La  Abra  awards,  345 

Welfare  of  each  is  dependent 
upon  welfare  of  all,  234 

Wells,  Heber  M.,  217 

Wesley,  John,  speech  at  bi 
centennial  celebration  of 
birth  of,  February  26,  1903, 
109 

West  Indies,  6 

West  Point  Military  Academy, 
205,  411;  origin  of  students, 
29 

Wheeler,  Benjamin  Ide,  199 

Wheeler,  Gen.  Joseph,  5,  59 

Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  speech  at, 
September  6,  1902,  44 

White  House,  restoration  of, 
375-376 

Wilson,  Edgar  S.,  272 

Wood,  Gen.  Leonard,  105,  202, 
203,  204,  205;  work  of,  in 
Cuba,  204 


INDEX 


485 


Work,  law  of  worthy,  well  done, 
is  law  of  successful  American 
life,  55;  should  be  done  well 
for  the  work's  sake,  89;  es 
sential  to  happiness,  183 ;  "no 
man  needs  sympathy  because 
he  has  to  work,"  241 ;  no  room 
in  American  life  for  the  mere 
idler,  241 

Wright,  Gen,  Luke  E.,  5 


Y 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associa 
tion,  181;  railroad  branch  of, 
181 ;  teaches  national  brother 
hood,  184 

Young,  Lieut-Gen.  S.  B.  M.,  438 


Zoological  Park,  National,  339 


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